


Broken Like Me

by bonniepride



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Everyone Is Alive, F/F, Fredashi, HoneyGoGo, M/M, Sunfire - Freeform, Tadashi Hamada Lives, au where Fred hasn't met the rest of the team yet!, sunfire! Tadashi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:21:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 50,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26905789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bonniepride/pseuds/bonniepride
Summary: Ever since the fire that left him scarred and with powers he can't quite control, Tadashi feels like an outsider. But when he accidentally ends up at the wrong event after a convention and meets a handsome stranger named Fred who seems to like him exactly as he is, he wonders if he might dare to trust someone outside his safe circle of family and friends.
Relationships: Ezra Bridger/Hiro Hamada, Fred | Fredzilla/Tadashi Hamada, Honey Lemon/Go Go Tomago
Comments: 11
Kudos: 30





	1. Chapter 1

Tadashi stands in the convention center’s bathroom, taking deep breaths.  _ It’s okay, Dashi. You’ve got this. Just because you can’t wear your hoodie and you’re nervous doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to make it through tonight’s cosplay ball without setting anything on fire. So long as no one looks at your scars or asks questions, you’ll be fine.  _

Yeah. Right. Like that was going to happen. 

A small flicker in the corner of his eye catches his attention, and he curses quietly as he sees that the tip of his right index finger had ignited. He quickly turns on the water in the sink, running water over it in hopes of quenching the flame. 

He hadn’t always been like this. Three years ago, he’d just been an ordinary college student, not a care in the world except studying for classes and helping his little brother get accepted into the college of both their dreams, SFIT (the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology). But it was the night that Hiro had gotten into SFIT that had changed everything.

Hiro had participated in an Expo for current and incoming students, presenting an invention to a panel of judges in hopes of earning a scholarship, as well as a chance to work in one of the university’s most prestigious labs with Tadashi. Hiro had wowed the judges and was almost instantly accepted, and everything had seemed to be going perfectly. That is, until the Expo hall had caught fire. 

Almost everyone had already left the Expo, so casualties were practically nonexistent, but Tadashi’s mentor, Professor Robert Callaghan, had still been inside. In a moment of recklessness, Tadashi had run into the building to try to save his teacher. But just as he’d reached the door, an explosion had blown him back and almost killed him. 

It had still done quite a bit of damage to him--half of his body had been burned and badly scarred before the changes had happened. But something strange--something that he had until then had only thought could happen in comic books--happened to him. Some weird combination of the fumes from the technology and chemicals inside of the building had fused with the fire and, in turn, fused with him. His body had stopped burning, and instead started internalizing the fire. 

No one knew about this until almost a week later. Rescue workers had dragged Tadashi away from the fire and rushed him to a hospital where he spent the next week in a coma. No one had known if he’d make it through, and Hiro had stayed by his bedside, refusing to leave him until there was no hope left. And then, one night, Tadashi had woken up to find himself in the middle of a burning bed. 

He’d initially thought that he was waking up back at the university. It wasn’t until he’d seen his entire body glowing and covered in flames that he realized he wasn’t in the fire--he  _ was _ the fire. 

By some miracle, the fire seemed to be at least somewhat under his control--the key word being somewhat. With much hard work and concentration, he discovered that he could stop and start the fire and direct which parts of his body would produce flames instead of having to be entirely in blaze. And he could determine if the fire would burn things or if it would just be a warm presence. The problem was that, in order to properly control it, he had to be in control of his emotional and mental state. And as an extremely emotional person by nature, this caused quite a lot of problems. That’s why it wasn’t entirely surprising that, while Tadashi was trying to keep his weird new quirk a secret (he wasn’t prepared to call it a “power” when it felt more like a curse than a gift), Hiro discovered it by the morning of the next day when Tadashi lost control while Hiro was hugging him out of relief at seeing him awake for the first time since the fire.

Fortunately Hiro hadn’t been hurt--Tadashi never would have forgiven himself if he had. That’s how Tadashi had learned that he could control if his fire burned or not. Hiro, for his part, had found his elder sibling’s new abilities “sick” (as he’d described them) after getting over his original shock. Still, even though he’d been a lot more enthusiastic than Tadashi about the fact that his elder sibling had, to his mind, become a superhero, he understood the need for Tadashi to be able to control the fire, which is how he’d come to develop the hoodie Tadashi wore almost constantly. It was designed to put a damper on Tadashi’s body’s ability to produce the fire (at least externally) while wearing it and thus allow him to still freely think and experience emotions without worrying about hurting anyone or anything. 

After getting the fire under control, Tadashi had never intended to go superhero. He’d only wanted to go back to living his life the way it had been before the fire (or, as near to it as he could while recovering from his burns and dealing with quite a lot of scarring that unfortunately the general public had decided made him a monster--Hiro had almost come to blows many times with people who had looked at Tadashi funny or asked him to leave a place of business because he was “scaring the customers”.) But that was before, through a freak series of accidents, they’d discovered that Professor Callaghan was not only alive, but had set the fire at the Expo on purpose to fake his death and steal Hiro’s invention in order to get revenge on Alistair Krei, the man responsible for his daughter, Abigail’s, death. 

In spite of Tadashi’s initial resistance, somehow Hiro had convinced him and their friends from SFIT (Honey Lemon, Gogo, and Wasabi) to become heroes and go put a stop to Callaghan’s plan. With the addition of Tadashi’s nursebot-turned-fighting-machine, Baymax, they’d become the team Big Hero 6. After capturing Callaghan and putting him jail, as well as rescuing Abigail (who had somehow miraculously been alive inside of the portal everyone had assumed she had died in), the team had originally intended to retire. But when other copycat villains started popping up around the city, the team had somehow been pulled into full time superhero work. (Well, full time around going to college and doing homework and other life commitments.) 

While Hiro was thrilled by this development, Tadashi hadn’t been nearly as enthusiastic. Still, he wasn’t about to let his little brother fight bad guys without him being there to watch over him, and any time he considered putting his superhero life aside he would hear the voice of Uncle Ben from Spiderman echoing in his head about how with great power came great responsibility. At the end of the day, he couldn’t justify turning down help to people who needed it, so a superhero he stayed. 

The general public seemed to love Tadashi as a superhero (or Sunfire, as the media had taken to calling him) a lot more than they loved the real Tadashi. Just at this convention alone today he’d seen at least three cosplayers dressed as him and more merch (some of which made him extremely uncomfortable) than he could remember. Of course the rest of the team was pretty popular too (Baymax especially seemed to be a fan favorite), but maybe because he was the only one with natural powers he was always being singled out, both in media coverage and in the few times that the team had granted someone an interview. And as much as Tadashi strived to be an optimistic person, something about the fact that people claimed to love him as a superhero (which he didn’t even want to be) but would try to avoid the real him when they saw him on the streets made him hate Sunfire with a burning passion. 

_ Come on, Tadashi, this isn’t helping you calm down,  _ he tells himself, shaking his head as he realizes that he was brooding again. The convention center was getting ready to close, and he needed to get heading to the cosplay ball in the hotel across the street soon if he didn’t want to be late. For the most part, today had been a good day--he’d specifically chosen to cosplay Zuko from  _ Avatar _ because people just assumed that his scars were makeup or prosthetics, which made it possible for him to spend at least one day out in public without being made to feel like a freak. But he hadn’t been able to wear his hoodie and still look character accurate so he’d had to be very careful to stay in control all day. When Honey Lemon, who was supposed to go with him, had had to drop out at the last second because her girlfriend, Gogo, had gotten sick, Hiro had offered to come with to keep an eye on him, but Tadashi knew that he hated conventions so he’d turned him down. Now he almost wished he hadn’t. 

Tadashi closes his eyes, forcing himself to take deep breaths. Okay. He could do this. He could definitely do this. He was going to go to the cosplay ball and have a fun time and no was going to stare and maybe if he got lucky he might even get to dance with a cute guy. That thought firmly lodged in his head, he purposefully releases the tension from his body before heading back out into the convention hall. 

It didn’t take long to find the cosplay ball. Most people had already left the con by the time he left the bathroom, but as the hotel was just across the street he found it easily enough. He then followed the directions on the event page to the third story of the hotel where the event was being held. He did get turned around trying to find the correct ballroom, but then he finally turned a corner and saw people dressed in formal wear heading inside and he knew he was in the right place. He felt a bit underdressed--he’d chosen to go in costume instead of just a character inspired formal look since the event page had said either way was fine. He could only hope that once he got inside he’d see other people who were dressed in regular cosplay as well.

“Um, excuse me?” he says, walking up to the man who was sitting at a table by the door and pulling out his phone to show him his ticket. “Is this where I sign in for--”

Before he could even finish his words, two girls in fancy gowns came bursting out of the door and immediately started complaining loudly about something that was apparently wrong with the ball--the appetizers, Tadashi gathered from the bits of their words he could understand as they were both talking at once--not seeming to care that they’d just interrupted him. The man who, upon further inspection, already looked extremely tired and harrassed, barely glances at Tadashi’s ticket before wearily gesturing towards the door and turning his attention to addressing the concerns of the complaining girls.

_ Wow, _ Tadashi thinks with a frown as he walks inside. How rude could you get? They were just at this event to have fun, they shouldn’t be screaming at one of the hosts unless the food was rotten or full of bugs or something! 

It took him a moment for him to register what everyone else was wearing once he stepped inside because he was so focused on empathizing with the poor doorman, but when he did he comes to a stock-still stop.  _ Shit _ . Maybe he’d read the event page wrong, because no one else in here was dressed in cosplay. In fact, these were probably some of the fanciest formal outfits he’d ever seen.

_ Apparently these cosplayers really went all out _ , he thinks numbly. He’d never been to a cosplay ball before, he hadn’t realized it would be like this! He was definitely, definitely underdressed. Part of him was tempted to leave because he stuck out like a sore thumb, but he’d already paid for a ticket and he really didn’t want to have wasted that money. Maybe if he just stuck around other people would arrive who were also in costume?

He spots a buffet table at the far end of the room and decides he might as well get some food while he was here--if he ate and then didn’t feel like sticking around at least he would have gotten something out of this. God, he felt like he was back in high school again, skirting the walls awkwardly at a dance in the gym and just spending the evening eating because he felt too out of place to dance. 

As he nervously makes his way through the room, he thought it a bit odd that he was having a hard time identifying the characters that the others were trying to emulate. But then again, maybe he just didn’t know enough about fashion to understand? There was a girl with red hair in a purple 80’s style dress he thought was maybe dressed as Ariel, and the girl dressed in white whose dance partner was wearing navy blue and red slacks with a white shirt and black jacket was possibly Leia with Han? 

Deciding that it would just give him a headache to try to figure out who everyone was, he focuses on filling up his plate--food was safe, food was something he could think about without having to worry about going all Human Torch on this place.

Once he had his plate, he settles into a back corner, watching the formal dancing that was going on and realizing with a heavy heart that there was no way he’d be able to participate in any of this. His caretaker and adopted parent, Aunt Cass, had taught him some basic dance steps in case he got lucky enough to get to dance with anyone (there had to be some single cosplayers at the ball other than him, right?) but whatever kind of dancing they were doing here was way more complex than what he’d learned. Seriously, how could he be so alone even here in the middle of a bunch of nerds?

After stress eating his way through the food on his plate (and trying to keep himself as calm as possible), he heads over to the trash can to dump the disposable dishware, planning on making an early exit and trying desperately to think of someplace he could hide out for an hour or two before heading home so Aunt Cass wouldn’t think he’d left the dance early. It was too depressing to admit that he’d messed up so badly, and besides, he knew that she worried about how withdrawn he’d gotten these days and was constantly trying to convince him to leave the house to have fun with his friends instead of staying holed up in his room or working in the garage workshop he shared with HIro. He didn’t want to let her down and let her know what a huge coward he was.

He was just turning to head for the door when he accidentally walks right into someone. 

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” Tadashi cries. “I totally wasn’t looking where I was going!”

“No, no, you’re fine!” the guy he’d crashed into answers. “I wasn’t looking where I was going either!”

“I still feel bad--” Tadashi starts to say, only to find himself losing the ability to speak as he meets eyes with quite possibly the cutest guy he’d ever met. Cerulean blue eyes, shoulder length dirty blonde hair--he definitely had the Disney prince thing going on. And the fact that he was wearing a Megazon comics beanie and the rest of his suit seemed to be Megazon themed as well? Oh yeah, he was totally crushing  _ hard _ . And was he imagining it, or was this guy checking him out? But no, he probably just thought he was just a total dork for showing up in full costume--

“Oh my gosh. I  _ love _ your Zuko cosplay!” 

All right, so maybe not such a dork, then?

“T-Thanks!” Tadashi rubs the back of his neck, feeling himself blushing. “I think I messed up, though. I must have misread the invitation, everyone’s all dressed up and I’m definitely not…”

“Hey, the invitation said you could wear whatever, you just made a very bold choice!” the other man answers with a reassuring smile before asking curiously, “Were you at Sokyocon today?”

“Yeah, I was--weren’t you?” 

“No,” the other man answers sadly, shaking his head. “I wish I had been, but I just got back into town a few hours ago. I almost didn’t come tonight, but my mom would have killed me if I didn’t…”

Huh, that was… weird. Tadashi didn’t know why someone’s parents would be mad at them for not going to a cosplay event. Maybe he meant since he’d already bought a ticket to the event his mom didn’t want him wasting it? 

“I really like your Megazon outfit!” Tadashi says, trying to find a way to keep the conversation going. 

“You know Megazon?” The other man’s eyes light up.

“Um, yeah! I’ve been reading Megazon comics for as long as I can remember!” Tadashi laughs. “My dad used to read them as a kid, and when I was little he’d let me read all of the comics that he’d saved. Then when I started getting an allowance when I was older I’d go to the comic book shop down the street and get the new issues.” 

“Wow, it’s so nice meeting another fan!” The other man grins eagerly at him. “It’s been so long since I’ve run into someone who knows about him! Any chance you’d maybe want to go sit down and we could… I dunno, talk about this?” 

“U-Um, yeah, that would be great!” Tadashi nods, trying not to sound overly excited--he had to play this cool!

“Great!” The blonde man gestures to a table at the side of the room. “Over there sound okay?”

“Definitely!”

“All right then!” The man starts to head towards the table before stopping halfway there, as if suddenly remembering something. He turns back around to offer Tadashi his hand. “Oh, I didn’t introduce myself earlier but I’m Fred, by the way!”

“Tadashi,” Tadashi answers, shaking his hand.

The two of them settle down at the table, happily chatting away about Megazon and comics until the conversation eventually turns back to cosplay.

“I still can’t get over it,” Fred says. “Your costume is  _ seriously _ amazing! I’ve never seen one so detailed and accurate before!”

“Thank you.” Tadashi feels himself blushing again at the praise. “My friend, Honey Lemon, has been teaching me how to sew. This is the first project that I’ve made all on my own.” 

“That is so cool! I can’t believe you made that, it looks great!”

“T-Thanks…” Tadashi felt his blush growing even deeper.

“What about the scars?” Fred asks curiously. “Is that stage makeup, or prosthetics, or...?”

Tadashi winces--things had been going so well, why had Fred had to bring that up?

“I… Um… T-They’re real,” he finally manages to say, his words stilted. “There was a fire a few years ago and I kind of… Well… Got burned.”

“Oh my gosh.” Fred’s eyes go wide. “I’m so sorry! I-I didn’t mean-- I mean, I didn’t realize--” He seems at a loss for words before finally mumbling out, “I-I still shouldn’t have asked, that was super rude of me...”

“No, it’s fine,” Tadashi sighs, wondering why he hadn’t lied like he usually did at cosplay events. Maybe because he was hoping that it was possible he might get to see Fred outside of just cosplay events?

There was an uncomfortable silence in which Fred wouldn’t meet his eyes, and Tadashi felt his heart plummeting. Great, so Fred was going to be just like everyone else... 

“A-A lot of superheroes have scars!”

“Wait,  _ what _ ?” Tadashi feels himself going on high alert at Fred’s sudden outburst, clenching his hands to prevent flames from spontaneously appearing in his palms. He doubted that Fred knew or even suspected that he was Sunfire, but still--!

“I-I just meant that a lot of superheroes’ bodies go through really messed up shit, but then they turn it around and it makes them even more awesome, right?” Fred stammers out, looking even more embarrassed. “Like, Bucky lost an arm, but he got a metal one to replace it which was super powerful! And Tony Stark had a piece of shrapnel trying to go into his heart, but he built the arc reactor to stop it and then he ended up becoming Iron Man--”

“Fred, it’s okay.” Tadashi lets himself relax when he realizes that Fred wasn’t judging him and didn’t know his superhero identity. “You don’t have to try to make me feel better about this, but thank you.”

“O-Oh, okay!” Fred nods, his face red. “Sorry, I’m horrible with talking to people… I always blurt out the first thing that comes to mind, even if it’s something super awkward....”

“Well I appreciate what you were trying to say,” Tadashi reassures him, a smile starting to pull at the corners of his mouth. 

“T-Thanks… It doesn’t help that I tend to get really nervous around cute guys, which always makes it even worse…” 

“Wait, you think I’m cute?” Tadashi blinks in surprise, unable to believe what he was hearing. No way! There was no way that Fred could be gay, let alone think that he was attractive, was there?

“Y-Yes?” Fred answers, looking like he wanted to sink right into the floor. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that, you probably think I’m total creep right now…”

“No, not at all!” Tadashi cries, his hand reaching out of its own accord to rest on Fred’s knee. “I-I was thinking that you’re really cute too...”

“Really?” Fred asks, looking hopeful. 

“Really,” Tadashi agrees with a shy smile. “And since we seem to have a lot of interests in common, I think I’d really like to get to know you better…”

“I’d really like that too!”

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah!” Fred grins at him before laughing. “Wow, I never thought I’d meet a cute guy who was also a nerd and was into me at this singles’ mixer!” 

“Wait… Singles’ mixture?” Tadashi repeats slowly, sure he must have heard him wrong.

“Y’know, this singles’ mixer that all the parents of the wealthiest families in the city send their kids to?” Fred answers. “I know, it’s a hassle and a totally contrived way to try to get us all to pair off and ‘form powerful business alliances’ or whatever. But I’m really glad I came since it means I met you.”

“Hold on! I-I thought this was the cosplay ball,” Tadashi stammers out, the reason as to why he’d felt so out of place here finally sliding into place. He was totally at the wrong event!

“Wait, you thought this was a cosplay ball?” Fred asks before his eyes go wide. “Oh! Oh my gosh, no! I think I passed another event at the ballroom on the other side of this floor on my way over here, I’ll bet that was it!” 

“Shit, I’m so sorry, I-I should probably go since I’m not supposed to be in here--!” Tadashi cries, standing up. 

“No, wait!” Fred reaches out to grab his arm. “Please, don’t go!”

Tadashi hesitates--he really wanted to stay and talk to Fred, but he also didn’t want to get in trouble for being somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be…

“The cosplay ball looked like a lot more fun than this,” Fred says hesitantly, letting go of Tadashi’s arm. “I’ve been here about an hour, so my mom can’t complain that I didn’t go to this stupid event. And no one here is going to notice if I slip off. D-Do you think there’s any chance I might be able to still get a ticket and go with you?”

“Well…” Tadashi says slowly. “My friend Honey Lemon was supposed to come with me but she had to cancel at the last minute. She gave me her ticket in case I met someone nice during the con I wanted to invite to come to the dance with me. So if you want to go and you want it...?” 

“That would be awesome!” Fred beams at him. 

“Great!” Tadashi grins at him and, daring to be bold, takes Fred’s hand in his own. “Come on, let’s go!”

“Lead the way,” Fred answers, standing up and following after him. And in that moment, Tadashi felt more calm and in control than he’d felt in a very, very long time.


	2. Chapter 2

“Now  _ this _ is more like it!” Fred says with a grin a few minutes later as the walk into the cosplay ball together.

Tadashi definitely had to agree with him--there were colorful costumes as far as the eye could see, and he felt much more at home here.

“I’m glad that I wore a Megazon themed outfit, otherwise I would completely stick out!” Fred laughs.

“Well then you would have known how I felt at your event,” Tadashi teases.

“That’s fair,” Fred agrees before glancing around the room. “This is a pretty good turnout! I know you said the friend you were planning to go with had to back out, but were there any other friends you were planning to meet up with here?”

“Not really,” Tadashi admits. “I’m kind of an introvert, I’ve got my close group of friends from school but I can get a bit nervous about trying to meet new people…” 

_ Especially because ever since the fire everyone takes one look at my face and refuses to look past it _ , he adds a bit bitterly in his head.

“Hey, that’s cool!” Fred reassures him. “I’m more of an extrovert myself, but I totally respect that!” 

“Thanks.” Tadashi flashes him a grateful smile--he was glad that Fred wasn’t like a lot of other people he’d met who liked to try to push him to be more social.

“I have some friends who were planning to come here tonight,” Fred says carefully. “I was thinking maybe I could try to find them just to say hi, if you’d be comfortable with that? If you’re not, it’s totally chill, we can hang out just the two of us!” 

“No, you can definitely find your friends if you want to!” Tadashi reassures him--he didn’t want to be the one holding Fred back. 

“Do you want to come with me?” Fred asks. 

“I-I don’t want to get in the way…” 

“What? You wouldn’t be getting in the way!” Fred cries. “I’d love to get to introduce you to everyone!”

“Well… Okay then,” Tadashi finally agrees, a small smile making its way onto his face. “Let’s do this.”

“Great!” Fred beams and squeezes his hand before starting to lead him through the room. 

Fred seemed to know quite a lot of people. They could barely go five feet without someone calling out his name or stopping to chat with him. Tadashi couldn’t help but feel a bit awkward with all these people (and, although he was trying not to admit it to himself, maybe just the tiniest bit jealous of the fact that Fred could apparently so easily make friends with people.) But he appreciated that Fred made every effort to make him feel included, introducing him to everyone and making sure that he was included in every conversation.

“You doing okay?” Fred asks about an hour into their making the rounds. “If you need to take a break that is totally okay, I know we’ve been talking to a lot of people.”

“A break might be good,” Tadashi agrees, feeling himself falling a little bit more--it was really sweet of Fred to be keeping his needs in mind like this.

“Okay then.” Fred squeezes his hand. “Let’s go find somewhere to sit down.” 

They head over to the half of the room that wasn’t the dancefloor, looking for a table that wasn’t currently occupied. Everywhere looked full up until a white haired guy started waving to them, calling Fred’s name.

“Hey, it’s Jack!” Fred beams at the other man, waving back, before turning to Tadashi. “He’s a friend of mine, do you mind if we sit with him?” 

“Sure,” Tadashi agrees, trying not to feel too nervous about having to sit with a stranger. 

“Awesome.” Fred gives him a grateful smile before starting to lead him over. 

“Hey Jack!” Fred greets the white haired man at the table before noticing the brunette man who was also sitting there. “And Hiccup, hi! It feels like forever since I’ve seen you guys!” 

“Hey!” the brown haired man (Hiccup, apparently) answers with a grin. “I know, it’s been a really long time!”

“We drove up for the con--thought it would be nice to see some old friends,” Jack adds. “I’m glad we ran into you, we had heard you were out of town this weekend.” 

“I was, but I just got back tonight, and I kinda ended up here by happy accident,” Fred laughs, sitting down in one of the empty chairs at the table. 

“Well we’re grateful for whatever that accident was,” Hiccup laughs before glancing curiously over at Tadashi, who was a bit nervously taking the other empty chair.

“Oh, guys, this is Tadashi!” Fred quickly introduces them. “He’s the happy accident that got me here. Tadashi, this is Hiccup and Jack--we used to go to high school together, but they moved away from SF to go to college together down south.”

“I managed to get a full ride scholarship, I couldn’t turn it down,” Jack answers with a shrug. “But we’re definitely planning to move back once college is over. Our families live here, and besides, we hate missing out on all the fun stuff!”

Tadashi nods nervously, trying to act like he was keeping up with things--he never knew what to do when people he’d just met casually started throwing information about their lives at him--before latching onto something he felt he could safely hold a conversation about. “I love you guys’ costumes--Ruby and Weiss, right?” 

“Right!” Hiccup agrees with a grin, seeming pleased that he recognized them. 

“It was Hiccup’s idea,” Jack laughs. “He’s been making me watch  _ RWBY  _ with him, and since I have white hair he said I had no excuse not to do a genderbent Weiss.” 

“Well you seriously pull it off,” Tadashi tells him enthusiastically, glad that he was making good headway with them--maybe he might be making new friends for the first time in what felt like forever.

“Thanks!” 

“Your Zuko is really amazing too,” Hiccup adds. “Did you make that prosthetic yourself, or…?”

“It’s… Um… I-It’s not a prosthetic,” Tadashi mumbles--he really should be used to this question by now. 

“Oh!” Hiccup’s eyes go wide. “Shoot, sorry… I really should know better than to ask questions like that with all the questions that I get about my leg…”

“Your leg?” Tadashi repeats before realizing how rude that question was. 

“Yep,” Hiccup chuckles, not looking offended as he pulls up the leg of his pants to reveal a prosthetic leg. “I lost this in a fire too.” 

Tadashi suddenly felt his hopes rising--there was somehow something incredibly comforting about the fact that there was someone else who understood his experience, even though he hated that anyone else had had to go through something as horrible as he had. 

“I’m sorry about your leg,” he finds himself saying--he felt a bit stupid, he hated it when people apologized about what had happened to him, but it was just sort of a standard knee-jerk reaction. 

“Eh, it’s fine.” Hiccup waves off his apology, fortunately not seeming offended. “It happened years ago, and I get around just fine on a prosthetic--especially since I started building my own, they work so much better than the one that my doctor originally gave me.”

“You built your own leg?” Tadashi asks--Hiccup fully had his attention now. “Are you into robotics at all?”

“Yeah, absolutely,” Hiccup answers, seeming to sense his interest. “That’s my major. I applied to SFIT before I found out that Jack got a scholarship down south and I decided to go with him.”

“I study robotics at SFIT!” Tadashi tells him eagerly. 

“No way!” Hiccup grins at him. “That’s so crazy! What type of robotics are you into?”

“I’m working on a robotic nurse--I call him Baymax!”

“A robotic nurse? That is so awesome! I can’t believe we’re both in the robotics field for medical applications!” 

“Maybe someday we could partner on a project together!” 

“I’d love that!” 

“Uh oh,” Jack laughs, looking over at Fred. “I think our boyfriends are going to spend the rest of the night talking shop if we don’t stop them!” 

“O-Oh,” Tadashi stammers, his cheeks going bright red. “I-I’m not … W-We’re not--!”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Fred puts in when Tadashi can’t manage to form a coherent sentence. “We just met tonight. But I’m very, very interested in getting to know him better and see if maybe things can head that way.”

“Y-You would?” Tadashi looks over at him, feeling a bit embarrassed but mostly hopeful. Fred was really interested in maybe having him as a boyfriend someday?

“I would, if you’re okay with it,” Fred answers, flashing him a sheepish grin. 

“I definitely, definitely would!” Tadashi reassures him, smiling shyly back. 

“Okay, well I’m going to have Jack dance with me before he can make himself even more embarrassed,” Hiccup says, giving Jack a slightly teasing look. “And we’ll give you two some privacy to get to know each other better!”

“Sounds good,” Fred laughs. 

“It was really nice meeting you, Tadashi,” Hiccup says as he and Jack stand up, Jack looking a bit embarrassed. “Have Fred get you my number, I’d definitely love to talk to you more about possibly teaming up on a project some time!”

“Sounds good!” Tadashi agrees, waving as Hiccup and Jack make their way onto the dance floor.

“So,” Fred says once the other two men were gone, “can I get you a drink or anything before we get too involved in a conversation and end up thirsty?” 

“Aww, such a gentleman.” Tadashi grins at him. “A drink would be great.” 

“What would you like?” Fred asks. “A soda, or something stronger?” 

“O-Oh, just a soda, please,” Tadashi answers, feeling himself blushing. “I have to get myself home by myself after this.”

“You sure? I could get you a ride home if you wanted any alcohol,” Fred offers. 

“I, um… I also have to work a shift at my aunt’s cafe in the morning,” Tadashi tells him. “And I don’t want to be hungover for that.”

“Oh, gotcha.” Fred nods in agreement. “That definitely makes sense. Soda it is. You have a preference on the type?” 

“Mountain Dew if they have it, or Dr. Pepper if they don’t,” Tadashi tells him, glad that Fred had let it go. The truth was that he didn’t drink period--he just didn’t see the draw to it--but a lot of people didn’t seem to get that, and he wasn’t sure yet if Fred was going to be one of those people or not. 

“Got it! I’ll be right back, okay?” Fred says, standing up.

“Okay,” Tadashi agrees with a smile, waving to him as he goes and then settling back comfortably to watch the people on the dancefloor. 

“Here you go,” Fred says a few minutes later, returning with the drinks, and Tadashi was relieved to see that the soda he’d brought back was still in a sealed can. As much as he wanted to trust Fred, everything that Aunt Cass had ever told him about date rate drugs was still very fresh in his mind, and an unopened can was a lot easier to trust than an open cup. 

“Thanks!” Tadashi grins as him as he accepts the soda. 

“Of course!” Fred grins back at him, sitting down and taking a sip from his own cup. (Tadashi wasn’t sure what the dark liquid inside of it was but he suspected from the smell that there was alcohol in it. Still, he wasn’t about to judge--he didn’t mind if other people drank around him, and besides, it sounded like Fred had plans to get home safely since he’d offered to get Tadashi a ride.)

“So, you said that you work for your aunt?” Fred asks curiously. 

“Yeah, I do,” Tadashi agrees, opening his Mountain Dew and taking a drink. “Although I don’t exactly work for her. Me and my little brother, Hiro, live with her, so it’s more that I like to help out when I can as a thank you for everything that she does for us.”

“Got it.” Fred nods. “That’s really nice of you to help her out like that. Can I ask what kind of cafe it is?”

“It’s called the Lucky Cat Cafe, but it’s not really a cat cafe,” Tadashi explains, blushing at the praise. “There’s just one cat--our pet, Mochi--who sneaks in sometimes. But everything’s cat themed--Aunt Cass even makes loaves of bread shaped like cats, our customers love them.”

“Aww, that’s adorable!” Fred grins at him. “Do you like working there?”

“Overall, yeah,” Tadashi agrees. “I mean… Sometimes I have to deal with customers being jerks--especially after I got these scars--but it’s worth it knowing that I’m helping Aunt Cass since she does so much for me and Hiro.”

“Wait, why would people be rude to you because of your scars?” Fred asks, putting his drink down mid-sip and frowning. 

“Some people… Some people get scared because of how I look, I guess,” Tadashi mumbles, staring down at the floor. “People don’t like people who look different…” 

“That’s insane!” Fred cries, reaching out to tip Tadashi’s chin up with his hand so that he was looking at him. “You are the most handsome man I’ve ever met, and anyone who says otherwise is crazy!”

“T-Thank you,” Tadashi mumbles, feeling his cheeks flushing bright pink. This was the first time that anyone other than Aunt Cass had ever called him handsome, and it felt like his stomach was filling up with butterflies. 

Fred was silent for a moment, just gazing into his eyes, before finally asking, “D-Do you maybe want to dance with me?” 

“U-Um, sure!” Tadashi answers, surprised but extremely flattered by the offer. 

“Awesome!” Fred grins at him, letting go of his chin and standing up, offering Tadashi his hand, which Tadashi gladly accepts. 

Fred leads him across the room to the dance floor, and once they found an empty spot to stand in, they spend an awkward moment fumbling, trying to figure out how they were going to do this. 

“I-I’m not very experienced with this,” Tadashi admits sheepishly. “I only know what my aunt’s taught me…” 

“My parents forced me to take years of ballroom dancing classes,” Fred answers with a wry smile. “I can lead, if you want.” 

“Might be best since you definitely know more than me,” Tadashi agrees, gratefully letting Fred move his hands to the right positions and then trying to follow Fred’s example. There was a good deal of stepping on toes to begin with because Tadashi kept forgetting to step backwards instead of forwards, but finally they settle into a nice rhythm together. 

“See? You had nothing to worry about, you’re a natural at this!” Fred tells him with a grin. 

“T-Thanks.” Tadashi grins at him. “But I think I just have a really good teacher.”

Fred beams at him and gently pulls him a bit closer and, while he was feeling a bit nervous, Tadashi doesn’t pull away, enjoying the fluttering feeling in his stomach as he dares to rest his head on Fred’s shoulder. 

“The truth was I was a bit nervous to ask you to dance,” Fred admits softly as they continue to dance through song after song. “That’s why I had to get some alcohol in me for courage--I’m too used to being shot down any time I ask a guy to dance with me.” 

“Well that makes two of us,” Tadashi chuckles, pulling away to offer Fred a shy smile. “But trust me, you don’t need any alcohol with me.” 

“Good to know.” Fred gently brushes Tadashi’s cheek with the back of his hand, and Tadashi was just leaning into the touch when suddenly the lights in the room start to dim. 

“All right, people!” The DJ calls from their turntable. “Slow dancing time is over! Now it’s time to really get this party started!”

“Oh gosh,” Fred laughs, shaking his head as a few people start passing glow sticks around the room. “I guess this is turning into a rave.” 

“Something like that,” Tadashi agrees, a bit nervously moving closer to Fred--he’d never really been to a rave before, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about this. 

“You okay?” Fred asks gently. “We don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.” 

“N-No, I think I’ll be okay,” Tadashi answers, trying to sound braver than he felt. 

“All right,” Fred slowly agrees. “But if you want to go, you tell me, okay?” 

“I will,” Tadashi reassures him, feeling himself relaxing slightly. Fred was such a gentleman, he knew that he’d keep him safe. 

“The only problem is that I don’t really know how to dance to this kind of music,” Tadashi continues as some electronic sounding music starts playing. 

“Well, there isn’t really one set way to dance,” Fred laughs. “It’s pretty much whatever you want!”

“Um… Okay…” Tadashi slowly agrees, still not sure that he knew what do, only to burst out laughing when he sees Fred starting to bust out some very 80’s dance moves.

“See? Anything goes!” Fred laughs, seeming pleased that he’d gotten him to loosen up a bit. “C’mon, just have fun with it!” 

“All right, I’ll try,” Tadashi says slowly, trying to search his mind for any sort of dancing that he could do. Well… There were those dance moves that Honey Lemon had once taught him one late night at the lab when they’d both been sleep drunk from studying from finals. 

Closing his eyes, both to block out the rest of the dancers and also to try to help himself focus, he slowly starts moving to the music, trying to remember everything that Honey Lemon had taught him. Slowly but surely, it starts to come back to him, and he opens his eyes to grin at Fred, glad that he was figuring this whole dancing thing out. What he didn’t expect was to see Fred just standing there, staring at him open-mouthed. 

“S-Sorry,” Tadashi mumbles, coming to a stop. “W-Was it that bad?” 

“B-Bad? Dashi, no, that was amazing!” Fred answers, his voice oddly sounding slightly strained. “I-I just didn’t know that you knew how to dance like that!” 

“A friend taught me,” Tadashi answers with a slightly embarrassed shrug. “She goes to clubs sometimes--that’s where she met her girlfriend, Gogo--and I figured that’s probably the right type of dancing for this kind of thing…” 

“I’m not surprised she got a girlfriend if she can dance like that,” Fred answers. 

Tadashi was about to ask what he meant by that when his brain registers the look on Fred’s face. There was something in his eyes--something more than just the sweet, friendly interest from earlier. Tadashi suddenly felt it like a hook in his stomach--Fred  _ wanted _ him. This was the first time that Tadashi had ever had someone want him like that. And after the fire, a large part of him had given up on anyone ever wanting him like that. He knew that he’d only known Fred for maybe an hour, tops. But some desperate, primal part of his brain was telling him that he needed to move on this if he ever wanted a chance for this to actually happen. And the truth was that he was starting to feel that he wanted Fred too. So why not see where this could go?

Not knowing where this courage was coming from, and half not believing that he was doing this, he takes a step forward as a new song comes on, reaching out to put his hands on Fred’s hips. 

_ We burn and we played, we try to forget, but the memories left are still haunting.  _

Tadashi was fully ready to back away if Fred showed that he didn’t want to do this. But instead, Fred’s hands wrap around Tadashi’s waist, pulling him up against him.

_ The walls that we built from bottles and pills, we swallow until we're not talking. _

“Y-You okay with this?” Fred asks a bit thickly. 

“Mm,” Tadashi answers, nodding. “Y-You?” 

“More than okay,” Fred breathes.

_ I, I am a man on fire. You, a violent desire. _

Tadashi starts swaying up against Fred, a bit nervous but hoping that he was doing this right. He could already start to feel a bit of pressure in Fred’s pants, and as he gazes into Fred’s eyes he could see that they were getting dark with want. 

_ What a dangerous night to fall in love. Don't know why we still hide what we've become. _

As Tadashi continues to dance, Fred’s hands tentatively move from Tadashi’s waist to the opening of Tadashi’s tunic. They almost went inside, but before they do, Fred asks softly, “C-Can I--?” 

_ Do you wanna cross the line? We're runnin' out of time. _

Tadashi nods his consent, and Fred’s hands push back the fabric, sliding inside and tracing over his bare skin, making Tadashi’s head keen back. Oh God. Oh God this felt  _ amazing _ … 

_ A dangerous night to fall in love. _

“You still doing okay?” Fred asks softly. “I can stop--”

“No,” Tadashi quietly begs. “D-Don’t stop…” 

“Okay then.” Fred’s hands start to wander a bit more freely, and Tadashi could feel his own erection beginning to start. 

_ Started a stranger, a love endangered, the edge of a night. The face of an angel, the heart of a ghost, was it a dream? _ __

Tadashi had never imagined his first time happening like this--during a rave at a convention, with a guy he’d just barely met. But he was wanting this so badly, and so did Fred, so how bad could it be? 

_ I, I am a man on fire. You, a violent desire. _

Before Tadashi even knew what he was doing, suddenly he was reaching out and pulling Fred into an open-mouthed kiss. He’d never even kissed anyone before, but apparently his body had decided that it was ready to give everything over to Fred tonight, and when Fred started enthusiastically kissing him back he didn’t see any reason to stop.

_ What a dangerous night to fall in love. Don't know why we still hide what we've become. _

“I-I have a hotel room for the night,” Fred gasps when they finally sloppily break away for air. “D-Do you want to--?”

_ Do you wanna cross the line? We're runnin' out of time. _

“Y-Yeah,” Tadashi answers, heart thumping so hard in his chest that he was sure that was the noise he was hearing instead of the bass from the speakers. “I-I do.”

_ A dangerous night to fall in love. _

“Okay then.” Fred grabs his hand and starts pulling him towards the door. Tadashi follows after him, half feeling like he was in the middle of a dream, but not a dream that he wanted to stop. 

Somehow they make it to the elevator before they start kissing again. Tadashi found himself pushed up against the wall of it while Fred presses hot, wet kisses to his mouth. It wasn’t the soft, sweet, Disney type experience Tadashi had always imagined. And yet Fred was still being incredibly gentle with him, not pressing him too hard and asking every few kisses if he still wanted to keep going, to which Tadashi kept answering yes. He’d come this far. He wasn’t about to turn back now.

Eventually the elevator slows to a stop, and the two stumble out together, Fred leading the way down the hallway. As he fumbles with his door key, Tadashi feels a familiar buildup of heat in his body. 

_ No! Not now! _ he silently begs. The universe had already screwed him over so many times. It could leave him alone for ten damn minutes so that he could have sex for the first (and possibly only) time in his life!

Just then, Fred manages to get the door open, and Tadashi shoves down the heated feeling to follow him inside. 

“You prefer to be on top or bottom?” Fred asks, clearly trying to be respectful of Tadashi’s preferences. 

“I-I don’t know, I’ve never done this before,” Tadashi answers, now fighting both nerves and the pressing feeling of fire in his veins. 

“That’s okay,” Fred reassures him. “I don’t really have a preference, so how about we just start and then see how you feel?”

“All right,” Tadashi agrees, nodding, in spite of himself getting impatient--he needed this to start as quickly as possible. He hoped that if it started then the fire would leave him alone to enjoy this. 

Fred tentatively reaches out to pull him back into another kiss, and Tadashi desperately returns it, starting to shrug out of his tunic to allow Fred easier access to his body. Fred in turn starts removing his own shirt between sloppy kisses, finally getting it off and tossing it to the floor, and Tadashi revelled in the feeling of Fred’s cool skin against his own burning body. 

Somehow they made it over to the bed, and Tadashi feels himself falling against it as Fred gently pushes him down onto the mattress before climbing on top of him. 

“Y-You still okay with this?” Fred breathes as he starts to kiss and nip at Tadashi’s neck. 

“Y-Yes,” Tadashi gasps out, torn between ecstasy at how amazing this felt and horror as he felt the flames in his body growing ever hotter. No, no, no, he could do this! He could control the fire, he could enjoy this without his stupid body getting in the way!

Fred was just starting to work his pants down, pressing kisses lower and lower on his body, when suddenly Tadashi smelled the scent of something burning. 

“Shit!” He bolts upright, horrified as he sees a small flame on the sheets, just barely managing to smother it in time as Fred pulls away. 

“Dashi, are you okay?” Fred asks, his eyes wide with concern. “I-It’s okay if you don’t want to do this! We can stop right now, I don’t want you to feel pressured--”

“I-I’m so sorry, I have to go,” Tadashi chokes out, bolting off of the bed and snatching his tunic off the floor to wrap around himself before racing towards the door. 

“Tadashi, wait!” he could hear Fred calling after him. “Please, don’t go!”

But Tadashi couldn’t stop. He races down the hallway towards the fire exit--he didn’t trust himself to get down to the lobby before he set the entire building on fire. Ignoring the sound of the alarm that was set off as he presses against the bar, he hurries out onto the fire escape, the door closing behind him just as his entire body erupts into flames. The building was safe from him out here--for short periods of time, he wasn’t harmful brick and metal--but he couldn’t stay here. Fred might still come after him (he doubted it, considering he’d just run away right before they were about to have sex with absolutely no explanation, but there was still the possibility.) And so, climbing onto the railing, he jumps off, free-falling for a moment before the heat currents generated by his body push him back up and he was flying through the air, heading for home. 

Usually a nighttime flight like this was a peaceful experience--the cool air, the stars up above him and the brightly lit city below. But tonight there was no peace. Tears were flowing out of his eyes, but they evaporated instantly into steam as soon as they reached his flaming skin. Why? Why did the universe hate him so much? He’d finally met a super sweet guy who shared his interests and was interested in being with him, both romantically and sexually! But no, instead of letting him have the one good thing that had happened to him in years, his stupid curse had ruined everything! Fred probably hated him now, and even if by some ridiculous chance they ever met again, he probably would want nothing to do with him after he’d run out on him like that! 

By the time that he finally arrived back at the Cafe, Tadashi was both cried out and burnt out. As he touches down on the small outdoor roof garden that was outside his and Hiro’s room, the flames on his body went out without his even having to try to get them to stop. Not wanting to wake Hiro, Tadashi carefully opens the window on his side of the room and climbs inside, closing it behind him before collapsing onto his bed. He didn’t even bother to change out of his cosplay or get ready for bed. He just curls up on the mattress, squeezing his eyes tightly shut and willing himself to forget that tonight had ever happened.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Brief mention of suicidal thoughts

When he woke up the next morning, Tadashi’s eyes were thick with the gelled remains of tears and his nose felt like he was in the worst stages of a cold. Great, apparently he’d been crying in his sleep. This was the last thing that he needed before working a Saturday morning shift at the Cafe.

“Wake up, bro!” he hears Hiro’s voice calling from the other half of the room. “I’m not calling you again, if you fall back asleep and don’t get your butt downstairs in time it’s your fault if Aunt Cass yells at you, not mine!”

“Ugh, fine…” Tadashi groans, wiping away the eye gunk as best he can before stumbling out of bed and over to the closet he shared with Hiro to grab his clothes for work.

“‘Bout time you got up,” Hiro, who was coming out of the bathroom, says, only to pause after getting a look at his older brother. “Jeez, you look like shit.” 

“Gee, thanks, way to boost my confidence bro,” Tadashi grumbles, grabbing his clothes and going into the bathroom to get changed. He hoped that closing the door would get Hiro off of his case, but he hoped in vain.

“What the hell happened to you last night?” Hiro’s voice demands through the door.

“None of your business!” Tadashi growls back as he starts pulling off the remains of the cosplay and putting on the fresh clothes. 

“...Did you get sloshed last night? Are you _ hungover _ ?!”

“What the fuck? No! You know that I don’t drink!” 

“Fine, whatever, so you’re not hungover! But you look like you barely slept last night, and I know you didn’t get in until late, I was up past midnight and I didn’t even hear you come in!”

“Well that just means I’m a good older brother who didn’t wake you up so you could get your sleep!” 

“Don’t try to change the subject, Dashi! I know you were going to that cosplay ball thing last night, but that couldn’t have run that late, so something must have happened after the event… There was dancing, probably lots of cute nerd guys there who you might have danced with,” Tadashi hears Hiro speculating. “So possibly you were just talking to one of them, or maybe… ...Holy shit, did you get LAID?” 

“What?! Absolutely not!” Tadashi cries, his cheeks burning as he yanks his shirt over his head--Hiro was way too close to the truth, why did he have to be such an observant little shit sometimes?

“That’s my theory and I’m sticking to it!”

“Well your theory is wrong!” Tadashi answers, banging the bathroom door open and heading over to his side of the room to grab his hoodie--with Hiro being like this, he knew that he’d need it or else he was going to be putting out literal fires down in the Cafe.

“You’re mad, so either I’m right or something else happened, and I’m going to find out what it was!” Hiro declares, following after him. 

“Well keep guessing, because I’m not telling you anything!” Tadashi growls, jamming his arms into the sleeves of his hoodie. 

“Tadashi, seriously, what is going on?” Hiro’s voice sounded less mocking and more concerned now. “This isn’t like you. If something happened last night-- You’d tell me if someone hurt you, right?” 

Tadashi lets out a sigh of defeat. “No one hurt me, Hiro,” he answers quietly, not meeting his brother’s eyes. “The only one I have to blame for what happened is myself…” 

“I’m not sure I’m following…” Hiro says slowly, placing a hand on Tadashi’s arm. “C’mon. Talk to me, nii-chan.”

Something about Hiro using his childhood nickname was enough to push him over the edge, and suddenly Tadashi found one tear and then another leaking out of his eyes and then there was no stopping the flood. 

“Dashi!” Hiro wraps his arms around his elder sibling, looking almost terrified. “Tadashi, what happened? Did someone drug you? Did they rape you? Do I need to call the police?” 

“I-It’s not like that,” Tadashi manages to get out, shaking his head and feeling his body trembling. “I-I met a really, really nice guy last night… He was sweet and romantic and a total gentleman and I thought… I thought I might have a chance with him… W-We even went up to his hotel room, and I thought we were going to… But then I set the freaking bed on fire and I ran away like a scared little kid!”

“Holy shit…” Hiro breathes, wrapping his arms even tighter around him, “I-I’m so sorry, Dashi… I didn’t know… D-Do you think he realized who you are?”

“No.” Tadashi shakes his head. “I put the fire out before he could see it and then I ended up running out the fire escape before I went full blaze so I don’t think he saw any of it… But that almost makes it worse because he probably thinks I was just teasing him and then I ditched him when I really, really liked him! I-I thought maybe he was someone I might actually be able to be with!” 

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” Hiro awkwardly pats his back. “He’s not the only guy out there, Dashi. If this doesn’t work out, there’s going to be someone else who comes along who will be even better for you! But if you really liked him--do you think maybe you could try to find him? I mean, I’m sure you could come up with an excuse for what happened--tell him you had a medical emergency or something like that! If he’s a good guy, I’m sure he’d understand that!”

“No.” Tadashi starts to pull away. “I-It’s probably best if I just forget about him. I don’t think there’s any coming back from what happened last night… Maybe I should just avoid conventions for a bit so I don’t accidentally run into him and make things even more awkward.”

“Dashi.” Hiro frowns, not fully letting go of Tadashi’s arms. “I don’t like this. You haven’t really been you since what happened with Callaghan, and ever since I started dating Ezra you’ve gotten even more drawn into yourself. Now you’re talking about giving up conventions, one of the few events that you’ll still go to, over some guy? I-It sounds like you’re just giving up on life at this point…” 

_ Maybe I am _ , Tadashi thinks. But he wasn’t about to tell Hiro that. Hiro had such a bright future in front of him, and he was so happy right now dating Ezra. He couldn’t hold Hiro back from living his life to the fullest. It would just be easier if he could find a way to quietly slip away without it hurting any of his loved ones. Maybe it would have been better if he hadn’t survived the fire at all…

“Tadashi? Tadashi, can you come down here, please?” he suddenly hears Aunt Cass calling from downstairs. 

“I-I’d better go see what she wants,” Tadashi says, pulling out of Hiro’s grasp and starting to head for the stairs.

“Dashi--” Hiro had concern clearly written all over his face.

“I’m fine, Hiro. Really.” Tadashi forces what he hoped was a convincing smile onto his face before heading down the stairs, doing his best to keep at least a good five paces ahead of Hiro, who he could hear following after him, so that he could hopefully keep up this act before he had another breakdown and just made things worse.

“Aunt Cass, is something wrong?” he asks when he reaches the bottom of the stairs that lead into the Cafe. “Is everything all right?”

“Yes, everything’s fine, Tadashi,” Aunt Cass answers, and he was surprised to see that she looked excited for some reason. “Look what was just dropped off!”

She gestures to the counter where an elaborate bouquet of flowers in a crystalline vase was standing. 

“Oh, wow.” Tadashi blinks in surprise. Aunt Cass didn’t have a steady partner--she’d spent most of her life devoted to raising her orphaned nephews and hadn’t had time to date, and even now that her boys were growing up and getting more independent she claimed to be too focused on her business to really consider a romance--it wasn’t unusual for a smitten admirer to send her flowers or other trinkets to try to garner her attention.

“Do you know who sent these to you?” he asks curiously, thinking that whoever sent something this nice must really have it bad for her. 

“They’re not for me, sweetie!” Aunt Cass was practically beaming. “The card says they’re for you!”

“They’re… What?” Tadashi’s brain momentarily stalls out. No way. No way they could be for him. Who on Earth would be sending him--?

Hiro, who had reached the bottom of the stairs just in time to hear this, races over to the flowers and plucks the card off of the vase, opening it. 

“Tadashi, the guy you met last night--was his name Fred?” he asks.

“Y-Yeah,” Tadashi agrees, feeling a bit faint.

“Then I think you’re going to want to read this,” Hiro says, smiling as he holds the card out to him.

Tadashi takes the card with slightly trembling hands. The handwriting on the inside of the card was scrawly--the letters a bit too large, and it definitely wasn’t the neatest handwriting that he’d ever seen. But it was sincere, and sweet, just like Fred, as was the note written inside:

_ Dear Tadashi, _

_ I hope you don’t mind that I sent these to you. I don’t want to seem like a stalker but you mentioned the name of the cafe where you worked and it was the only thing I had to go on to find you. Last night was amazing. You were amazing. And I’m so, so sorry for whatever I did to screw things up. I feel awful, I got so caught up in the moment that I didn’t even realize I was pressuring you, but I want you to know that was never my intention to make you feel forced into anything. You deserve so much better than that, and you deserve a lot better than me. But if there’s any chance that you might be willing to give me a second chance, I would love to take you out on a proper date to try to make it up to you. You don’t have to respond if you don’t want to, but if you’d be willing to give me another shot, you can reach me at the number below. I really, really hope that you’ll say yes.  _

_ (xxx) xxx-xxxx _

_ Yours (hopefully!), _

_ Fred  _

“Oh my gosh…” Tadashi breathes, mind reeling. Fred was looking for him. He was looking for him! And he wanted to take him out on a date! How was this even possible?

“You’re totally calling him, right?” Hiro says eagerly. 

“I-I don’t know…” Tadashi whispers. “I-I mean, I want to, but do you think I should?”

“Um, duh I think you should! Here, gimme that!” Hiro snatches the card out of Tadashi’s hand and, pulling his phone out of his pocket, starts dialing the number on the card.

“Hiro, what are you doing?!” Tadashi cries, snapping back to reality. 

“Speeding things up!” Hiro answers with a shit-eating grin before speaking into the phone as someone apparently picks up on the other end. “Hello, Fred? Yeah, hey, this is Hiro, I’m Tadashi’s little brother. ...Yeah, he got the flowers and he totally wants to go out with you, he’s just being super shy right now and was too afraid to call--”

“Oh my God, Hiro!” Tadashi shouts, snatching the phone away from him before nervously putting the phone up to his own ear. “H-Hey, Fred?” 

“Tadashi!” In spite of himself, he felt butterflies stirring up in his stomach again at the sound of Fred’s voice. “Oh my gosh, I-I didn’t think you’d call…”

“Yeah, I-I’m sorry you had to deal with my little brother, he’s kind of a little shit…” Tadashi says, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. 

“It’s okay,” Fred reassures him before asking hopefully, “So, um… Was he telling the truth about you maybe wanting to go on a date with me?”

“I-If you want to go out on a date with me after I ran out last night,” Tadashi answers sheepishly before hurriedly continuing, “I’m really, really sorry about that, it wasn’t you, you were being a perfect gentleman! I just… I-I have a kind of complicated medical condition, and it likes to flare up at really weird times, and last night was one of those times and I got embarrassed and freaked so I ran but that totally wasn’t fair to you…”

“Oh, Dashi, no, that’s okay!” Fred answers, sounding relieved. “I’m not upset, and that is totally understandable! I was just worried that I was pushing you too far too fast and I spent all night kicking myself thinking that I’d ruined something really amazing…”

“You didn’t,” Tadashi reassures him, starting to feel a smile forming on his face. “You definitely didn’t. I-I was worried about the same thing myself, but on my end. So I guess if you’re willing to give this a second shot…?”

“I am if you are!”

“G-Great!” Tadashi finds himself laughing in spite of himself. “That’s really, really great…”

“I’m glad you think so.” Fred’s voice was soft and warm and it made Tadashi’s heart melt like butter on one of Aunt Cass’s freshly baked scones. “So, when would you be free for a date? I know you mentioned working a shift at your aunt’s cafe this morning, but would you maybe be open this afternoon?” 

“Yeah, I am!” Tadashi agrees, the fact that Fred remembered what he’d said in passing last night about working a shift this morning making him fall just that much more for him. 

“Perfect! I could come pick you up, if that’s okay with you?” 

“That would be great!” Tadashi answers, quickly trying to plan this out in his head. He had a shift until eleven, so allowing time for taking a shower and changing clothes… “Would noon be good for you?” 

“Noon it is!” Fred sounds practically ecstatic.

“Dare I ask where you’re taking me?” Tadashi asks, just a hint of teasing making its way into his voice.

“I like surprising people, so probably not!” Fred laughs. 

“Can I at least know how I should dress?” Tadashi usually hated surprises, but somehow he didn’t mind this one. 

“Hm… Casual is good,” Fred answers after a moment. “Not sweatpants casual, but definitely not suit and tie. Probably just whatever you’d be comfortable wearing on a regular day.”

“Got it.” Tadashi still wasn’t sure exactly what that meant, but he’d do his best.

“Okay, I’d better stop tying you up at work! But I’ll see you at noon, okay?” 

“Okay,” Tadashi agrees, beaming. “See you then!”

“Oh my gosh! Tadash, your first date!” Aunt Cass squeals the minute that he’s off the phone, wrapping him in a tight bear hug. “This is so exciting! And sweetie, you don’t have to stay on my account, if you want to call him back and tell him that you can go now--”

“Aunt Cass, he said noon is fine, and I don’t mind working my shift,” Tadashi reassures her, hugging her back. 

“Way to go Dashi!” Hiro cheers. 

“I-I can’t believe that just happened to me… It feels like some kind of crazy fairytale!” Tadashi admits as Aunt Cass lets him go, still not quite sure he believed that this was real.

“Well believe it!” Hiro laughs. “And I’m totally helping you get ready for your date after our shift is over!”

“What do you mean by that?” Tadashi asks, frowning at him in confusion.

“Um, Dashi? I hate to say it but your dating game is going to need some serious help,” Hiro answers dryly. 

“My dating game is just fine!” Tadashi argues. “I just got a date without your help, didn’t I?” 

“You got a date because I made the call for you. And I’m not talking about your flirting--I’m talking about your wardrobe. When was the last time you put any effort into your appearance?” 

“I make an effort!”

“You  _ used _ to make an effort. Before the fire, yeah, you looked fine! But now all I ever see you in is old jeans and t-shirts, and you always have your hood up when you’re out in public! You need to impress this guy, and that’s not how you’re going to do it!”

“Rude!” Tadashi huffs, although internally he had to admit that Hiro had a point. He had used to make more of an effort to look professional and nice back when he started college, and even for a time after getting out of the hospital. But when it had become clear that people were going to make judgments about him no matter how much effort he put into his appearance it became hard to find the willpower to put in the time and energy every morning. Still, maybe Hiro had a point…

“All right, fine, you can help,” he finally sighs. “But I withhold the right to veto anything I don’t approve of.”

“I accept your conditions,” Hiro agrees, shaking his hand.

True to his word, almost as soon as their shift was done Hiro drags Tadashi up the stairs to their room and starts digging through the closet. 

“Okay, I know you don’t throw anything out so you’ve got to still have some nice clothes in here!” Hiro says before starting to pull things off of hangers. 

“Shouldn’t I have some say in this?” Tadashi asks, raising an eyebrow as he watches him.

“I’m sorry but for the moment you’ve lost all credibility and you’re going to have to build that back up before I start trusting you with wardrobe choices again. Here!” Hiro tosses a pair of brown skinny jeans to Tadashi. “These are good! Also this.” He pulls a plain black v-neck off of a hanger. “This says sexy but without making it look like you’re trying too hard!”

“Seriously, Hiro?” Tadashi gives him an incredulous look. “Since when do you know anything about this kind of thing?”

“Since I got a boyfriend, keep up!” Hiro answers, continuing to rifle through the contents of the closet. “And I’m trying to help you!”

“Help me with what, exactly? What is your goal here with treating me like I’m a kid who doesn’t know how to dress himself?” 

“My goal is to get you a second date and to hopefully get you laid!”

“ _ Hiro! _ What the freaking actual fuck?!”

“Tadashi.” Hiro turns to him with a serious look on his face. “You’re lonely. And no, don’t even try to deny it, you are. It wasn’t so bad when most of us on the team were still single but now that all of the rest of us are dating I keep seeing you getting more and more closed in on yourself, and it’s not good. I-I’m getting worried about you, Dashi. And seeing you talking about Fred is the most… Well,  _ alive _ I’ve seen you in a really long time. I-I just want to do everything I can to make sure that this goes well for you…”

“Hiro…” Tadashi feels himself softening, and he pulls his younger sibling into a hug. “Thank you. I appreciate that. But you know you don’t have to worry about me, right? I’m the older one, it’s my job to worry about you, not the other way around!”

“Well someone’s got to worry about you since you won’t worry about yourself, and it might as well be me,” Hiro answers, hugging him back. “Consider this payback for all of the times you pulled me out of a bot fight or a million other dangerous situations I got myself into.”

“Okay,” Tadashi agrees, finally relenting. “If that’s what you want to call it, okay.”

“Good.” Hiro grins up at him before pulling away and turning back to the closet and pulling an olive green blazer off of a hanger. “Now  _ this _ would definitely put your look over the top! You should definitely wear it!”

Tadashi takes the blazer in his hands, rubbing over the familiar fabric with his fingers. He’d used to wear this all the time before he’d been so worried about hiding his face in public. And he had to admit, it had always used to give him a confidence boost somehow. Still…

“I think I need to wear the hoodie for this first date,” he sighs, shaking his head. “Knowing how nervous I’ll probably be, there’s a good chance I’ll light something on fire if I don’t…”

Hiro seems to be considering this. “I’ll make you a deal,” he finally says. “I’ll let you wear the hoodie for this date if you’ll let me modify this so that it’ll be able to serve the same function as the hoodie for suppressing your powers and you agree to start wearing this again, at least for nicer occasions.” 

“If you can do that, I promise I’ll wear it for the second date,” Tadashi agrees.

“See? There you go!” Hiro grins up at him. “Already talking about a second date!”

“Oh shut up!” Tadashi laughs, but he was already starting to feel a bit better about things. Maybe Hiro had a point about dressing for confidence. And, once he’d finished showering and putting on the clothes that Hiro had picked out for him, he had to admit that he was feeling a lot more ready for his date with Fred.


	4. Chapter 4

“Tadashi?  _ Tadashi _ !” 

“What?” Tadashi, who had been nervously watching out the cafe’s front window for Fred’s arrival, glances over at Hiro, who had elected to wait with him. 

“Good, glad I finally got you attention! Dude, you’ve got to stop shaking the table, you’re going to knock everything over,” Hiro answers, pointedly looking down at Tadashi’s knee, which was currently bouncing up and down in a very erratic fashion.

“Oh, sorry!” Tadashi apologizes, quickly stopping--he hadn’t even realized that he’d been doing that.

“You seriously need to get your nerves under control,” Hiro sighs, shaking his head. “Are you really this nervous?”

“Yes,” Tadashi quietly moans, putting his head in his hands. “I really, really don’t want to screw this up…”

“You won’t,” Hiro answers, clearly trying to be encouraging while his elder sibling was driving him a bit crazy. “Just be your usual charming self and you’re golden!”

“I thought you recently told me I had the demeanor of a curmudgeonly hermit,” Tadashi deadpans. 

“Well… Forget I said that!” Hiro waves his hands in the air as if to clear away whatever he’d said in the past. “Look--all you have to do is do whatever you were doing last night because apparently whatever that was Fred really liked!” 

“I… Um…” Tadashi stammers, knowing that there were a few things that he’d been doing last night that he definitely did not plan on doing out in public on a date. 

Before he could psych himself out too much, he suddenly heard Hiro gasping, “Holy shit…”

Following his younger sibling’s gaze, Tadashi looks outside, his heart stopping for a moment as he sees, of all things, a jet black limo pulling up outside. 

“Holy. Fucking.  _ Shit _ ,” Hiro whispers before suddenly laughing and shaking his head. “Okay, I haven’t even met this guy yet, but if that’s him, I’ve gotta admit that he has some serious class showing up on a first date in that!”

Tadashi just nods numbly in agreement, still not sure that he could really believe what he was seeing. 

A few moments later a door in the back of the limo opens up and Fred steps out and suddenly he realized that this was very, very much real. 

“Is that him?” Hiro asks eagerly.

“Y-Yeah, that’s him,” Tadashi agrees, nodding. 

“Okay then!” Hiro grins at him. “In that case I’m going to go say hello!”

“What? Hiro, no, don’t you dare--!”

But before he could even get his words fully out Hiro was already gleefully racing over to the door. 

“Hi!” Hiro says as soon as Fred walks inside, the luck cat chimes above the door announcing his arrival. “I’m Hiro, Tadashi’s brother, I think we spoke on the phone a little bit ago!”

“Yes, we did!” Fred agrees, to Tadashi’s great relief not seeming weirded out and instead just shaking Hiro’s hand. “Very nice to meet you. Thank you for helping make this date happen!”

“Of course!” Hiro laughs, shaking back, before gesturing to Tadashi. “But I’m sure there’s someone you’re much more eager to see than me!”

“Hey!” Tadashi can see Fred’s eyes light up the moment that they land on him, and something about the eager but still tender expression in them is enough to make his cheeks feel like they were glowing. 

“H-Hey,” Tadashi answers, rubbing the back of his neck nervously but smiling as he makes his way over to him. 

“You look great,” Fred says as he reaches him, grinning. “I mean--wow! I thought that you looked great in cosplay, but you look even better just dressed as you! Now I’m the one feeling a bit underdressed…”

“No, you look really good too,” Tadashi reassures him, meaning it wholeheartedly. Fred looked good in a suit, it was true, but this more casual look--cargo shorts, a comfortably faded Megazon t-shirt, and the same beanie he’d been wearing the night before--was just as attractive on him. 

“Okay, you two, I won’t keep you from your date!” Hiro says, looking between them with a grin. “But there is one thing we need to do before you go.” 

“Please tell me that Aunt Cass isn’t making you take a first date picture,” Tadashi groans--Aunt Cass had had to run out on a sudden errand, which was the only reason she wasn’t as all over this as Hiro was right now. 

“Nope.” Hiro answers, shaking his head. “But there is another family member Fred needs to meet. Baymax?”

“Oh no,” Tadashi whispers as Hiro turns towards the door leading down from the main house into the cafe. “Oh no no no no no…”

“Ah, there he is!” Hiro declares as a puffy white robot comes waddling into the cafe.

“Whoa!” Fred cries, eyes lighting up. “That is seriously cool! Tadash, is this the nursebot you were telling me about last night?” 

“Y-Yes,” Tadashi admits, knowing exactly what Hiro was up to and starting to seriously regret some of his past life choices--specifically the ones he’d made on the night of Hiro’s first date with Ezra.

“Hello,” the robot chirps when it comes to a stop in front of Fred, waving cheerfully. “I am Baymax!”

“Nice to meet you, Baymax!” Fred answers enthusiastically. “I’m Fred!”

“Yeah yeah, enough with the pleasantries,” Hiro quips. “Baymax, I need you to scan him.”

“Scanning now,” Baymax agrees, helpfully following instructions. 

“Um… Scanning?” Fred repeats, sounding a tiny bit nervous. “What exactly does that mean?”

“Oh, nothing major,” Hiro answers as a detailed medical chart pops up on Baymax’s chest. “It just means that, should you fail to bring Tadashi home, we have everything that we need to find you. And believe me--we  _ will _ find you.”

“Hiro, why are you doing this to me?” Tadashi quietly moans, putting his face in his hands.

“What, you mean other than making sure that my nii-chan makes it home safely?” Hiro answers innocently. “It’s called payback, bro.”

“Fred, I’m so sorry,” Tadashi apologizes. “I swear as soon as we get back I’ll wipe all that data--”

“What? No, it’s cool!” Fred answers, completely surprising him. “It’s good that your family cares enough to make sure that you’re safe when you’re going out on a date with someone you don’t know that well yet. And besides, it’s kinda neat that a robot was able to get all of my medical data with just one scan like that! Baymax, promise me you’ll let me know if you find anything I need to know about, all right? I want to make sure I stay nice and healthy so hopefully Dashi and I will be able to be together for a long, long time!”

Baymax nods cheerfully, and Hiro looked mildly impressed by Fred’s reaction. 

“Huh… All right then. Keep this sort of thing up and you’ll be making the family Christmas card,” he says with a satisfied looking nod.

“ _ Hiro _ !” Tadashi cries, mortified. 

“All right, all right, go!” Hiro laughs, starting to push him and Fred towards the door. “Have fun on your date! Be safe, do everything I would do, and make sure to use protection!” 

“Hiro, I swear to God--”

“Bye!” Hiro conveniently slams the door shut before Tadashi can finish his threat. 

“Well he seems nice!” Fred laughs. 

“More like extremely embarrassing, and I’m so sorry you had to deal with him,” Tadashi sighs, shaking his head. “I swear he means well, he’s just… Well, he’s Hiro.” 

“It’s fine,” Fred reassures him. “Seriously--I wish my family was that invested in my life. I mean, my dad kinda is? I know he cares about me, and he tries to be as involved as he can be, but he runs a few different companies so he’s on the other side of the world half the time. But all my mom cares about is trying to get me married off to some rich girl she can show off at the club and so she can have the grandkids she’s always wanted since apparently I’m too much of a disappointment to her. News flash, Mom--I’m gay, and that’s not changing for anyone, especially you!”

“Jeez…” Tadashi whispers, shaking his head and suddenly feeling horrible about complaining about his own family. Aunt Cass and Hiro liked to pry into his personal business, sure, but he knew that they always wanted what was best for him, and neither of them had shown him anything but their full and total support when he’d come out to them. 

“I’m really, really sorry about your parents,” he finally manages to get out. 

“Eh, I’m used to it,” Fred answers with a shrug before offering Tadashi his hand. “So--you ready to start our date?” 

“Absolutely,” Tadashi answers with a grateful grin, taking the offered hand. 

“Great!” Fred beams at him before starting to pull him towards the limo. “C’mon, Cinderella--or, I guess, Cinderfella, in this case? Your carriage awaits!”

“You seriously didn’t have to rent a limo for this date,” Tadashi says as Fred opens the door for him, feeling himself blushing. “Trust me, I would have been fine taking the streetcar, or I could have driven us on my motor scooter.”

“Huh--cool to know you ride a motor scooter!” Fred grins as he follows him inside, closing the door behind him. “But this isn’t a rental--my dad owns this, and for some reason he insists that I ride everywhere in it. Apparently he had some sort of special ‘safety features’ installed? I dunno, I’ve given up on trying to figure out all the weird things he has me do which he claims are to ‘protect’ me and I just go with it at this point. Hopefully this doesn’t weird you out too much?”

“N-No, it’s fine,” Tadashi answers, slightly shocked to learn that Fred’s family owned a limo. Then again, maybe he shouldn’t have been surprised--hadn’t Fred said that the event he’d unintentionally crashed last night been a mixer for the kids of the richest families in the city? The reality of that statement hadn’t struck him until now, but he suddenly realized that he had a lot of things to learn about Fred. 

“You don’t sound so sure,” Fred says slowly. “I-If this is freaking you out and you want to ditch this date, I totally understand--”

“What? No!” Tadashi cries before finding the boldness to take Fred’s hands in his own. “Fred. This is fine, and I really, truly mean that. And even if for some reason it wasn’t--which is totally not the case!--nothing could stop me from wanting to go on this date with you.” 

Fred grins at him, seeming to relax as he squeezes Tadashi’s hands. “Nothing could stop me from wanting to go on this date with you either.”

“Perfect!” Tadashi playfully pecks him on the cheek. “Then let’s stop talking about it and do it.”

“Right!” Fred beams at him before turning to the man sitting in the driver’s seat. “Heathcliff, we’re ready to go!” 

“Very good, Master Frederick,” the driver nods and Tadashi sees a ghost of a smile on his otherwise expressionless face as he pulls out onto the main road. 

“Heathcliff’s looked after me since I was a kid, he’s practically family,” Fred explains to Tadashi. “He’s super chill, but he doesn’t talk a lot so don’t expect a lot of conversation from him.” He lowers his voice and adds in a playful whisper, “Sometimes I think he might secretly be a ninja in disguise!”

“Good to know,” Tadashi chuckles, finding himself grinning as he settles in next to Fred on the black leather bench seat that ran the length of the limo’s interior. This was all very, very new, and it definitely wasn’t how he’d imagined this date going. But somehow he felt that he’d be up for just about anything as long as he had Fred with him.

“So, have you lived in SF your whole life?” he asks after a few minutes of companionable silence--there were still so many things he wanted to learn about Fred.

“Technically, but I was in boarding school for a lot of my life before college,” Fred answers with a wry smile. “It was my mom's doing, not my dad's. I know he would have rather had me here but she insisted it would help me get into a better college or something like that...”

“Well that definitely explains why we didn't meet before now,” Tadashi says tentatively, sensing that there was a chance this was a sensitive subject for Fred. “I definitely would have remembered seeing you at SF High.”

“Yeah, the fact that it kept us from meeting sooner makes me hate that stupid boarding school even more,” Fred tells him, lightly squeezing his knee.

“It wasn't like Hogwarts I'll take it?”

“More like how I imagine Smeltings--I definitely met more than a few Dudleys. Fortunately Jack and Hiccup made a great Ron and Hermione, but we still went through a lot of shit together.”

“Yikes.” Tadashi winces at that. “I’m sorry…”

“Can’t change the past.” Fred shrugs. “What about you? Hopefully your school experience wasn’t as bad as mine.”

“It wasn’t great, wasn’t horrible.” Tadashi shrugs. “I mean, I didn’t really have a lot of friends and I mostly was super focused on my grades so I could get a good scholarship. I got picked on a bit at the beginning for being a nerd but then I hit my growth spurt and started doing martial arts and people weren’t as eager to mess with me anymore. Hiro, though… He had it a lot harder than me. I mean, he graduated high school at thirteen so the age difference definitely didn’t help, and people seem to feel threatened by anyone who’s different than them…”

“Wow, sounds like both of you had a rough time of it,” Fred says softly. “I’m sorry you had to deal with that too. I don’t know why everyone seems to try to play up high school as the best years of your life when it was all such shit.”

“I couldn’t agree with you more.” Tadashi nods. “College has been so much better. I mean, the classes are a lot harder, granted, but at least I’ve made some really good friends who have stuck by me through so many things…” 

“They sound great, and I’m glad you have them.” Fred grins at him. “I hope someday I get to meet them if you’d ever be comfortable with introducing me to them.”

“Trust me, as long as you and I make it to second date territory they’re going to be demanding to get to meet you,” Tadashi laughs before adding a bit hesitantly, “A-And I’m really hoping that we do make it that far…” 

“Me too.” Fred beams at him. “But it’s probably best to take this one date at a time.”

“Right!” Tadashi agrees before asking curiously, “What about you? I know you said Jack and Hiccup don’t go to the same college as you, do you have any friends at your current school? ...I just realized I don’t know where you go to school, or even what major you are…”

“It’s cool,” Fred reassures him with a grin. “Seriously, this is our first date, the whole point of this thing is to get to know each other better! In answer to your questions, I go to SF State, although I have audited a couple classes at SFIT, and I’m an English major.”

“English major, nice!” Tadashi grins at him. “That was my second choice if I wasn’t able to get into a robotics program--I love engineering, but I also really love reading, y’know?”

“Oh, I totally get that!” Fred beams at him. “And I’m really glad to hear that you like reading too! What about writing, you ever write any stories?”

“I’ve tried, but anything I’ve ever written has been an abysmal mess,” Tadashi answers sheepishly. “I can get by writing papers and presentations for classes, and it’s not like I don’t ever get story ideas. But any time I open up a word document to try to write anything concrete down I get about five words in, reread them over and over while struggling to come up with how to continue the story, and then eventually I just give up and erase the whole thing.”

“Well if you ever want any help with a story, just let me know, okay?” Fred tells him. “I’ve done a lot of writing in my time and I’m always happy to offer any assistance I can to people who want to do some writing on their own but aren’t sure how to begin.”

“That would be great,” Tadashi admits with a grateful smile before asking curiously, “What sort of things do you write?” 

“Well, most of what I do for school is kinda academic, so I’m not sure it would interest you,” Fred answers, seeming slightly embarrassed by the question. “Other than that… I mean, I do a lot of fanfiction, but I’m not sure if smutty Stucky or Ironstrange would be your cup of tea…”

“...Oh my God, that sounds amazing,” Tadashi breathes before asking eagerly, “Are you on AO3?”

“Yeah, I am!” Fred replies, seeming encouraged by his response. “Do you go on there a lot?”

“Are you kidding me? Ever since my friend Honey Lemon introduced me I’m on there most weekends if I have free time!” Tadashi cries. “There’s a good chance I’ve probably read some of your fics since I’m always checking the Stucky tag!”

“Oh my gosh…” Fred was blushing bright red now. “I-I never thought I’d meet anyone in real life who’s read my fics other than Hiccup and Jack…”

“Well now you have!” Tadashi laughs, grinning at him, before adding, “But you still have to get me your username so I’ll know which fics are yours!”

“...Let’s make that something you get when/if we make it to date three,” Fred finally answers, still looking embarrassed 

“All right, fair, but that doesn’t mean I won’t try to figure it out before then,” Tadashi playfully teases.

“I agree to your conditions!” Fred chuckles, lightly nudging Tadashi’s knee with his own. 

Tadashi was about to try to do a bit more playful prying when he noticed that they were turning into a parking lot. Guessing that they’d finally reached the location of their date, he glances out the window, only to gasp when he sees the familiar stone building rising up in front of them.

“Oh my gosh! Are we going to the museum?” he cries.

“Yeah, we are!” Fred agrees, seeming pleased by his enthusiasm. “I’ll take it that this was a good choice for our first date?” 

“A great choice! Hiro and I used to come here all the time as kids with Aunt Cass, I love this place!” Tadashi answers, unable to keep a grin off of his face. 

“Perfect!” Fred grins back at him. “Heathcliff used to take me here a lot when I was younger too, and there’s a travelling exhibit I’ve been really wanting to see but haven’t had the chance to yet!” 

He points out the window to the brightly colored banners hanging off of the light posts in the parking lot advertising a new display on the history of comic books. 

“Whoa! I didn’t even know that this was coming but that sounds incredible!” Tadashi gasps. 

“Well I’m glad you agree!” Fred laughs as Heathcliff pulls up to the front steps of the museum. As the vehicle comes to a stop, he opens the door and offers Tadashi his hand. “So, ready for our first date?”

“More than ready,” Tadashi agrees, taking the offered hand and eagerly following him out of the limo and up the steps of the museum. 


	5. Chapter 5

Together Fred and Tadashi make their way into the museum. Tadashi noticed that Fred hadn’t let go of his hand yet, but he wasn’t about to say anything to make it awkward--it felt really, really great walking into a public place with Fred holding his hand. It was such a simple act, but it meant the world to him. It meant that Fred was stating to the world that yes, they were here together, and that he wasn’t ashamed to let anyone know it. And after spending so much time worrying that no one would ever want to be seen in public with him, especially in a romantic way, he was feeling on top of the world and far more confident in himself than he’d felt in a very, very long time. In fact, for a few moments he could almost imagine that he was just like everyone else and could forget why he was so self conscious in the first place.

“Look!” Fred points with his free hand to the large model of a tyrannosaurus rex in the middle of the lobby. “It’s Rexy!” 

“Yeah!” Tadashi laughs, beaming at him. “Hiro and I always used to like to pretend he was the one from  _ Night in the Museum _ !”

“Same!” Fred grins back at him. “That movie was so awesome!”

“It defined a generation,” Tadashi agrees as they make their way up to the ticket line.

“You agree that Jed and Octavius were totally a couple, right?”

“Oh, without a doubt! ...Wait, have you written fanfic of this?”

“Maybe…”

“Is it non-child friendly?”

“Also maybe…”

“...Fuck, I can’t wait to get access to your AO3 profile.”

“Good to know!” Fred laughs before adding, “Y’know, I’m also always open to roleplaying if you’re into that? I know writing stories by yourself can be intimidating, but sometimes having someone else writing back and forth with you can help, especially if you’re just starting out.”

“I… Will keep that in mind as an option,” Tadashi agrees slowly, nodding. The idea of letting Fred see how bad his writing was was intimidating. Still, maybe practicing with someone who knew what he was doing might help him improve… 

“No pressure!” Fred reassures him. “I just wanted to make sure you knew it was an option if you ever wanted to try it!”

“And I really appreciate that,” Tadashi tells him, lightly leaning against his arm and just letting himself enjoy this moment.

“Ah, I think we’re next!” Fred says as they move to the front of the line and one of the automated ticket window opens up. 

Tadashi was fully prepared to pay for his own ticket, so he felt a little bit embarrassed when Fred orders both of the tickets for them. 

“Y-You don’t have to do that!” he mumbles--he knew that Fred was just trying to be nice, but he also felt like he needed to be pulling his own weight in this relationship. 

“I just want to repay you for last night--you got me into the cosplay ball without me having to buy my way in, right?” Fred reminds him. 

“I guess so…” Tadashi finally relents. “But I didn’t really buy that ticket, Honey Lemon did, she just gave it to me…”

“All the same, you did get me in,” Fred answers gently. 

“Okay, I’ll allow it this time because of that. But I want to make sure I’m doing my part too!”

“...This means a lot to you, doesn’t it?”

“I-It does…” Tadashi admits. He knew maybe it was just stubborn pride, but he didn’t want to feel like Fred was the only one contributing to this relationship. If they were going to be partners, he wanted them to be equal in all things. 

“All right.” Fred nods. “I can respect that. And I’m sorry that I didn’t ask before buying the tickets. I’ll make sure to ask you what you’re comfortable with in the future, okay?” 

“Thank you.” Tadashi gratefully squeezes his hand. 

“Of course.” Fred squeezes back. “So, you ready to go explore?”

“Sure!” Tadashi agrees with a smile and together they make their way over to the entrance to the exhibit hall. 

“So, what should we do first?” Fred asks once their tickets have been scanned and they’re inside. “Should we go straight to the comics exhibit, or do you want to take a look at the other exhibits first?” 

“Hm… I’m kind of voting for going in order of the exhibits as we come to them and we’ll just keep an eye on the time to make sure we get to get to the comic section before closing?” Tadashi answers. 

“Sounds good to me!” Fred nods in agreement, and together they start off down the hallway. 

The museum was set up as a winding pathway that snaked through the various exhibits, so unless you were purposefully trying to skip ahead it was easy not to miss out on anything. All of the displays were educational, but some were a bit more interactive than others.

“Oh my gosh! This was my favorite part of the museum as a kid!” Fred says with a grin as they enter a play area that looked like a prairie in the old west, complete with dress-up clothes for the kids, a covered wagon, a campsite where kids could “cook” play food over a faux fire, and a replica of a steam engine locomotive that you could go inside of.

“Really?” Tadashi asks, glad to be learning something new about Fred.

“Absolutely! I know it sounds crazy, but when I was a kid I was totally dedicated to my dream of wanting to become a cowboy when I grew up!” Fred laughs. “Blame it on watching  _ Toy Story _ too many times. You can imagine my disappointment the first time I got to visit Texas and found out that the days of the old west were long gone.”

“That’s still nothing to be ashamed of--there are a lot worse things you could be than a cowboy,” Tadashi answers supportively. “Plus, you know that they’re discovering that the ‘wild west’ was a lot more gay than most of the history books we grew up with would lead us to believe.” 

“Oh, I absolutely knew about that, which totally supports my Jed and Octavius ship!” Fred laughs. “Also it’s definitely raised some questions for me about Woody and Buzz’s relationship, especially after everything I saw in Kingdom Hearts 3.”

“Hiro was definitely having a field day with that when he played through!” Tadashi laughs. “Although I do still love the classic Woody/Bo and Buzz/Jessie ships… I’m personally of the opinion that they would all make a very cute OT4 since Jessie and Bo would make a great couple as well!”

“Oh my gosh! Toy Story OT4, this is brilliant!” Fred cries. “You’re totally blowing my mind, you know that, right?”

“I’m glad you agree!” Tadashi beams at him. “So many shipping wars could easily be solved with healthy, supportive polyamorous relationships!”

“You are totally right about that.” Fred nods before gesturing to the scene. “So, what do you think, you want to get in on this? It shouldn’t just be for the kids, after all! Adults are allowed to have fun too!”

“I don’t know,” Tadashi answers, shaking his head and biting his lip--Fred’s enthusiasm was infectious, but he still wasn’t sure he was prepared to play pretend in the middle of a museum with a bunch of other people around.

“C’mon, you know you want to!” Fred playfully wheedles. “There are cowboy hats, it’ll be fun!”

“Hiro once got a really bad case of lice from one of those,” Tadashi deadpans. 

“...Okay, ew, childhood experience ruined.” Fred makes a face and moves away from the dressup area.

“Sorry, but it’s true--they really need to find a better way to keep the whole thing more sanitary.” Tadashi flashes him an apologetic smile. “Besides, I get the feeling these parents might not appreciate us going all  _ Brokeback Mountain _ in here.”

“That was not at all where I was going with this, but I do like the way that you’re thinking!” Fred laughs. “Okay, how about this--I raise you skipping out on the play area in exchange for us doing a Woody and Buzz couples cosplay at a future convention.” 

“...I get to be Buzz, right?” Tadashi asks, considering this. He’d always loved Buzz as a kid, and with the right electronics he could really put that cosplay over the top...

“Oh, of course!” Fred beams at him before laughing, “I like you--like, a lot--but you’re not getting Woody from me!”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Tadashi chuckles before pecking him on the cheek. “Okay, you definitely have a deal!”

“Great!” Fred beams at him before leading him into the next exhibit, which, as it turned out, was the hall of bugs.

“Ugh, this place has always creeped me out,” Fred admits, shivering slightly.

“What? Why? Bugs are our friends, they literally keep the Earth functioning!” Tadashi reminds him. 

“Okay, you apparently watched  _ A Bug’s Life _ too many times as a kid,” Fred jokes. 

“And you’re being rude to the little guys that mean we get to stay alive!” Tadashi answers. 

“I don’t so much mind regular bugs,” Fred tells him. “It’s  _ that _ guy that gets to me.”

He points to the four foot tall replica of a cockroach that kids were happily scrambling all over. 

“...All right, you have a point on that one,” Tadashi admits. “But even cockroaches have a purpose, they help eat garbage and decaying matter!”

“They can have their purpose, but I don’t like one that looks big enough to eat me,” Fred shivers. “Didn’t you ever see  _ Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves _ ?”

“...So even I have to admit that giant bugs are kind of scary,” Tadashi finally says, deciding that it was probably for the best to get Fred away from the roach statue and starting to lead him across the room. “But normal sized ones can be cool--like the butterflies in the butterfly garden!”

He points to the enclosed area where you could go visit live butterflies and, if you were lucky, maybe even have one land on you. 

“Butterflies are a lot better than roaches,” Fred agrees, brightening. “Do you want to go in?” 

“If you’re up to it, sure!”

“Great, let’s go!”

Fred seemed much more cheerful by the time they had gone through the proper safety procedures and been allowed inside. 

“I love gardens like this,” Tadashi says as they wander through amongst other families and couples all trying to get close to the brightly colored insects. “Aunt Cass tried to start one on the roof patio, and we get a few herbs and vegetables out of it, but it’s not the same as a real garden, y’know?”

“Sometime you’ll have to come see the garden at my house,” Fred offers. “The one upside of my mom being insistent that the grounds are all  _ Better Homes and Gardens _ -worthy: the garden out back is really big and really well taken care of so it’s a nice place to visit. When I was a kid I used to sneak out there and pretend I was in Narnia or the Shire or even Neverland.”

“I’d love to visit it sometime, and it sounds like you had a lot of fun playing pretend as a kid,” Tadashi says with a grin.

“Well, I didn’t really have any other kids around to play with, so I had to make up my own adventures,” Fred answers with a small shrug. “No siblings, and no real friends to speak of--not ones my mom would let me have over, anyways.”

“I can’t even imagine… For almost as long as I can remember, I’ve always had Hiro to keep me company,” Tadashi admits. 

“That must have been nice.” Fred offers him a warm smile. “You guys seem really close.”

“We are,” Tadashi confirms. “He’s my best friend. I don’t know what I’d do without him. We’ve always had each other’s backs, and we’ve always loved working together to make things. When we graduate from SFIT we’re planning to start our own company to market our inventions. Hiro came up with the name when he was three--Hamada Bro’s Inc.”

“That’s amazing! I’m sure you guys will do great with that!” Fred beams at him.

“Well, here’s hoping!”

“If all of your inventions are as awesome as Baymax I have no doubt about it!”

“Thanks!” Tadashi laughs before saying, “Y’know… I think the Imagination Station is one of the next exhibits. Hiro and I used to spend hours there making things, and I’m pretty sure they still have one of our earliest working inventions on display on the ‘Wall of Honor’ if you wanted to see it…”

“I would love to see that!” Fred cries.

“Okay then, let’s go!” Tadashi grins as he starts pulling Fred towards the garden’s exit.

A few minutes later they arrive in a brightly colored room full of kids playing at various stations where they could do simple science and engineering related projects.

“This place was always so much fun as a kid,” Tadashi says with a grin, looking around at all the kids who were so eager to learn. “I still like to come back to help out sometimes. SFIT partners with the museum to have students come and teach classes related to their specialties to kids--nothing too complex, but it’s never too early to get them interested in learning, right? Some people just do it for the extra credit, but I just think it’s so great getting to see kids getting excited about robotics, y’know? I’ve brought Baymax a few times, the kids love him!”

“Wow…” Fred says softly, and Tadashi finds himself blushing as he sees the look on Fred’s face.

“W-What?” he asks, ducking his head. “I-I know it’s kind of dorky but--”

“Dorky? No way!” Fred cries. “It’s seriously amazing that you’re so passionate about what you’re studying that you’re willing to volunteer your free time to help teach others about it!”

“I can’t help it, I like giving back however I can since this museum did so much for me as a kid,” Tadashi mumbles, slightly embarrassed by the praise but at the same time glad that Fred didn’t think he was a total dork.

Fred beams, squeezing his hand, before asking, “So, I think you were going to show me one of those amazing inventions of yours?”

“Oh right!” Tadashi starts leading Fred over towards the wall at the far end of the room where a display case held various projects that had been made by visitors over the years. “That’s the one!” 

He points to a small robot that roughly looked like a cat with round blue boots on its feet.

“Aww, that’s super cute!” Fred grins at him. “I’ll take it you like cats?”

“I am very much a cat person, yes,” Tadashi agrees. “You can’t grow up with Aunt Cass and not be one! Poor Mochi, Hiro and I have put him through so much… After we made that little cat with rocket boots, we got it into our heads that it would be fun to put rocket boots on a real cat… Mochi was not amused. Neither was Aunt Cass.”

“Wait, rocket boots?” Fred repeats. “You mean that little robot cat can fly?”

“Yep! He can get a good ten minutes of air time before he has to recharge!” Tadashi agrees proudly. 

“...The museum let kids have access to rockets?” Fred looks over at him in disbelief.

“Well, not exactly--Hiro and I had a habit of sneaking our own materials in,” Tadashi laughs. “It’s a miracle we never got kicked out--we almost did a couple times but Aunt Cass always saved us at the last minute.”

“Wow, sounds like you definitely kept your aunt’s life interesting!” Fred chuckles.

“We absolutely did--still do, sometimes,” Tadashi agrees, thinking a bit guiltily of everything that he and Hiro put her through with them being superheroes. Thankfully she’d only been taken hostage once, and that villain was now in a high security prison, but once was more than enough--that’s why Hiro and he had secretly installed as many safety features as they could around the house to keep her from ever being taken again. Even with that, he still regretted the fact that he knew a good number of her silver hairs had come from her worrying about their safety while out in the field. Still, what could they do? It wasn’t like they could just leave the city to be taken over by villains when there was something they could do to help…

“Hey, you okay?” Fred asks softly, making Tadashi realize that his brooding silence didn’t have any place on this date. 

“Yeah, sorry, I’m fine!” Tadashi reassures him. “Let’s keep going, huh? I think that the comics exhibit is in the next room!”

If his words sounded forced, fortunately Fred didn’t call him on it, just nodding in agreement and following him into the next exhibit hall. 

“Wow…” Tadashi breathes once they’re inside--the entire room was packed from wall to wall with comics and nerd memorabilia. 

“Now  _ this _ is what I’m talking about!” Fred grins at him, clearly as excited as he was.

“C’mon, let’s go check it out!” Tadashi says, leading him over to the closest display case so they can start exploring the exhibit. 

The two of them spent a good hour looking through everything--there was so much to see, and Tadashi found himself learning even more than he would have if he’d gone on his own because Fred was constantly adding to the information in the displays with his own running commentary from his seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of comics. 

“They should pay you to give a lecture here,” Tadashi laughs as they near the end of the exhibit. “Your knowledge base is seriously impressive!”

“Aww, thanks, but it’s nothing special!” Fred answers modestly. “I’ve always loved comics--they’ve been one of my special interests for as long as I can remember--and my brain seems to have a knack for storing just about everything I’ve ever heard or read about them.”

“Well I still think it’s impressive!” Tadashi tells him, playfully elbowing him.

“Thanks!” Fred laughs before looking ahead to the next and final display. “Oh my gosh, awesome, I wondered if they’d have something on them here! I mean, you can’t do an exhibit about comics and superheroes without talking about Big Hero 6, right?” 

Tadashi’s body automatically comes to a halt. No. No no no no no! This couldn’t be happening! There was no way that he was going to have to deal with this on his first date with Fred, right? 

But clearly he was, and finally he gives in and reluctantly follows Fred over to the case. 

“Sometimes I can’t believe that we have real, live superheroes right here in our city,” Fred says as he joins him. “It’s almost like living in a comic book, right?” 

“I guess so…” Tadashi mumbles, instinctively drawing further back into his hoodie as he looks up at the display, which included life-size cardboard cutouts of the team. He had to admit that the rest of the team looked good in their pictures, but he scowls at the one of Sunfire, fighting back the instinct to light it on fire and watch it burn to the ground. 

“Do you think Sunfire’s really this tall in real life?” Fred asks, distracted and not seeming to notice Tadashi’s discomfort. “I’ve only ever seen him from a distance, usually when the team’s in a fight and once at a press conference my dad helped me get into.” 

“...You’re a fan of him, aren’t you?” Tadashi asks, defeat sinking in. Fred was a Sunfire fanboy--of course he was. Just great--yet another person who probably loved his superhero side more than the real him. He rationally knew that he wasn’t being fair to Fred, but his deep seated insecurities were very loud and persistent when they wanted to be 

“What? Oh, yeah, I guess I am,” Fred answers, laughing and looking slightly embarrassed, before quickly adding, “But I’m not, like, a stalker fan like those people you see on the news or on tumblr! I admire what Sunfire does--what the whole team does--but he’s his own person, right? I’ve seen a lot of people writing creepy fanfiction about the team and trying to invade their privacy and it totally rubs me the wrong way. I mean, if their behavior would be stalkerish and not okay with any ‘normal’ person then how is it okay for them to do it to someone just because they’re a ‘celebrity’? And if guys are getting called out for fetishizing Chemica and Falconblade then how is it okay for girls to get away with fetishizing Sunfire or Plasmosis or the Leader? Neither of those things is okay! They’re real people too and people should respect that!” 

“That… That is a really refreshing take on things that I don’t usually hear,” Tadashi admits, grateful to find that at least Fred wasn’t one of the crazy fans that he’d sometimes run into. Still…

“You okay?” Fred asks, glancing over at Tadashi and seeming to finally notice his lack of enthusiasm. 

“Yeah… Sorry, this is sort of a weird topic for me,” Tadashi mumbles, not quite meeting his eyes. 

“Okay…” Fred frowns over at him, looking concerned. “I definitely want to respect your privacy, but is it okay for me to ask why?” 

“I just… I really, really fucking hate Sunfire.” The words come bursting out before Tadashi can manage to hold them back. “He’s so freaking arrogant, and everyone treats him like he’s the only hero on the team when everyone else is working just as hard! Why does he get singled out for having ‘natural powers’ when the others on the team clearly had to develop their own tech to be heroes? And even when the Leader’s partner, Dev, joined the team, Sunfire still got chosen as the posterboy--Dev has psychic powers, how is that not any better than a guy who just catches things on fire?!”

“...Okay, so there’s clearly a lot to unpack here,” Fred says slowly. “I mean… I definitely respect your right to having your own opinions about things, and I get why you feel like Sunfire’s being singled out a lot, because he is. But it’s not like he can control that. And how can you know that he’s not a good person if all you have to go on is what you see in the media? The news only shows the side of people that they want us to see, you can’t truly judge a person unless you’ve met them!” 

“Well I have met him and trust me, he’s not that great!” 

Tadashi feels his insides go uncharacteristically cold as he realizes what he’d just admitted out loud.

“You… Y-You’ve met Sunfire?” Fred asks, looking completely dumbfounded. 

“W-We’re acquainted,” Tadashi mumbles, not quite meeting his eyes. 

“I… Wow,” Fred finally says quietly. “I-I guess if you’ve met him and he’s not a good guy… Maybe they’re right about it not being a good idea to meet your heroes...”

Tadashi felt a small pang of guilt as he sees some of the light leaving Fred’s eyes. Just because he hated his superhero alter ego didn’t mean that he had to crush Fred’s dreams.

“H-He’s not a bad person,” he finally manages to get out. “We just… We have some personal differences, let’s leave it at that.”

Fred looks up at him, seeming slightly more hopeful. “You mean it?” 

“Yeah, I do,” Tadashi agrees--he’d do just about anything to get this date back on track and see Fred smile again. “For what it’s worth, I think he’d really like you if he got the chance to meet you.”

“Really?” Fred brightened slightly at that. 

“I really, really do,” Tadashi confirms, and he reaches out to squeeze Fred’s hand in his own. “I mean, anyone would be lucky to know you.”

“Aww, thanks!” Fred beams and pecks him on the cheek before tugging on his hand, starting to lead him away from the display, and Tadashi was more than happy to follow him and leave this awkward moment behind them.

Still, a little while later as they move into the next room Fred asks quietly, “Um, hey, Dashi?” 

“Yeah?” Tadashi answers, hoping that this wouldn’t be another Big Hero 6 question.

“I… I know it’s a really stupid thing to ask, but by any chance… Is Sunfire your ex?”

“What?” Tadashi was completely caught off guard by the question, only to realize that the way he’d been talking about Sunfire had kind of made it sound like he was an ex that he was still bitter over.

“Oh my God, no,” he laughs, shaking his head. “No, no, no. Trust me. He is absolutely not my ex.”

“Oh, okay! Good!” Fred says, seeming relieved for some reason. “I-I mean, not good, exactly? I just-- I feel I’d have a lot to live up to if the guy I was following up for was him…”

“Believe me,” Tadashi says, taking Fred’s hand in his own and kissing him firmly on the cheek. “You’re a thousand times better than he is.”

Despite the rocky patch, the rest of the date continues without a hitch. By silent mutual agreement neither of them brought up Sunfire or Big Hero 6 again, and by the time that they left the museum at closing Tadashi had almost forgotten all about the incident.

“That was an amazing first date,” Tadashi tells Fred as they wait out front for Heathcliff to pick them up. 

“I’m really glad that you think so too!” Fred grins at him. “But it definitely doesn’t have to be over yet if you don’t want it to. If you didn’t have any other plans for tonight, I’d love to take you out to dinner, maybe a movie too if you’re up for it? And it would be totally up to you if you let me pay or not!”

Tadashi felt a tiny thrill run up his spine--Fred didn’t want this date to be over yet either! And the fact that he was trying to keep his comfort level in mind just made it that much sweeter. 

“I’d really like that,” Tadashi answers with a shy smile.

“Great!” Fred beams at him as Heathcliff pulls to a stop in front of the steps. “Any preference on where you’d like to go for food?” 

“Any chance that you like sushi?” Tadashi asks as Fred holds the door open for him. 

“I love it!” Fred answers. “And I know a great place not too far from here, they’ve got an outdoor patio and a beautiful view of the sunset!”

“That sounds perfect!” 

“Great, then that’s where we’ll go!” 

Tadashi was practically glowing as Fred tells Heathcliff where to go next. This was the happiest that he’d felt in--well, longer than he could remember. And the night wasn’t even over yet.

The sushi place that Fred had recommended turned out to be amazing. They had the best Philadelphia rolls that Tadashi had ever tasted, and the fact that they also offered boba tea was just an added bonus. And Fred hadn’t been lying about the view from the outdoor patio--the sun setting over the bay was gorgeous to watch. Although not quite as gorgeous, Tadashi thought, as his date sitting across from him. They had the patio all to themselves, so they could talk and laugh as much as they wanted to without having to worry about bothering anyone else. The only downside of being outside was that it was super warm tonight--too warm to comfortably wear his hoodie. He’d tried to tough it out, but when Fred had made a concerned remark asking if he was too warm he hadn’t been able to figure out a way to keep the hoodie on without things being suspicious. Still, things were going so well, he doubted he’d need it. He was calm and in control, and nothing could ruin this night. Or so he’d thought.

They were almost done with their meal and were just discussing movie options--Fred was looking up show times at nearby theaters on his phone--when things went terribly, terribly wrong. 

Overall San Fransokyo was a fairly safe place to live. But, like anywhere, nothing could truly protect you from people who decided to drink and drive. So when Tadashi saw a car on the street weaving back and forth, his instincts telling him that something wrong was about to happen instantly kicked into gear. It was probably those instincts that were the only things that saved their lives. 

The car suddenly swerved off the road, heading right for the patio fence, and, his body acting completely on its own, Tadashi stands, shielding Fred, and sends out a concentrated blast of fire that changes the angle of the car’s path. The car still slammed into the railing, but Tadashi’s blast had caused it to hit the unoccupied part of the patio, leaving both him and Fred unharmed. 

Tadashi wanted to make sure that Fred was okay--clearly he would be as shaken from this near-death experience as Tadashi was--but as soon as his brain kicks in, making him realize what he’d just done, he knew he couldn’t stay here. Fortunately there hadn’t been anyone else around to truly see what had happened, but the drunk driver clearly wouldn’t have missed the fireball, and the people inside of the restaurant probably had seen something of it too. He couldn’t let them see his face--couldn’t let them figure out who he was. And Fred… 

Oh, God, Fred knew now. Fred knew exactly who he was. And while he wanted to explain everything to him, he was very, very far from being in control of himself. He knew that he had maybe ten seconds before he completely went into flames, and he couldn’t risk hurting him. He had wanted this relationship to work so badly, but clearly the universe didn’t give a fuck about him and what he wanted. 

“T-Tadashi?” he hears Fred saying, and for one moment he turns and sees the wide eyed, almost frightened look on his face. “Tadashi, what--?” 

It was too much. It was far, far too much for Tadashi to stay here and see everything that he’d hoped for going up in flames--literally. 

Not knowing what else to do, he jumps the patio’s fence and ducks into a back alleyway, taking off running without any real direction in mind except the thought that he had to put as much distance between Fred and himself as possible. The further away from Fred he got, the safer Fred was. Fred was the best thing that had happened to him in a very, very long time, and he refused to give the universe the satisfaction of letting it see him hurt him.


	6. Chapter 6

When Tadashi’s legs finally give out, he had no clue where he was, but that didn’t matter. It was dark and abandoned and there was nothing that he could set on fire except some scattered garbage, and that was a good thing since his body had long since completely burst into flames. 

He sinks down to the ground, putting his head between his knees and trying to breathe normally, but what came out was a sob instead. Today had been so perfect. How had it gotten so fucked up? 

Even if Fred wasn’t convinced that he was a freak, he probably hated him for ditching him twice now. And that was good. Fred needed to stay away from him, he wasn’t safe being near him! He was a magnet for trouble, but even more than that he  _ was _ trouble--his body could burst into flames at any time and hurt people. There was no way that it was safe for Fred to be around him, he had no idea why he’d thought he could make this work. How could he have been so selfish as to put Fred in danger like that?

“T-Tadashi?” 

Tadashi’s head jerks up at the sound of someone calling out his name. No. No, no, no! There was no way that Fred could have followed him all this way!

“Tadashi? Oh my God, you seriously run ridiculously fast…” 

And there Fred was, panting and looking like he’d just run a marathon (which he practically had), but stumbling into view with an extremely determined look on his face. 

“Fred!” Tadashi cries, on his feet in seconds, trying to find somewhere to run to but realizing that he’d reached a dead end. “Y-You can’t be here, it’s not safe!” 

“Are you fucking kidding me? A drunk driver just almost took us out while we were sitting at a restaurant and you saved my life, I’m kinda feeling like the only safe place in the city is wherever you’re at,” Fred answers with a wry smile. 

“Fred, I’m serious!” Tadashi hisses, backing up against the brick wall behind him. “I’m not safe to be around! I-I’m not in control, I could burn you!” 

“You’re Sunfire. You’re freaking Sunfire!” Fred cries, not seeming to hear him as he keeps moving towards him. “I seriously have so many questions now about why you were saying that you hated him so much... Is it like a cover thing so people won’t figure out who you are?” 

“Fred, please, just stop!” Tadashi cries, shaking his head, the tears falling from his eyes hissing into steam as they reach the flames on his cheeks and making it hard to see. “I-I don’t want this!” 

“You don’t want… this?” Fred repeats, finally coming to a stop about three feet away from him, a crestfallen look on his face. “Y-You mean you don’t want… Us? You don’t want us to be dating?” 

“What? No, that’s the only thing about this that I do want! But it’s not safe for you to be around me! You’re just going to get burned, and I can’t live with myself if I do that to you!”

“But you save people all the time and don’t burn them,” Fred answers matter-of-factly, and, to Tadashi’s great horror, he takes another step closer. 

“I have to take calculated risks! I have to trust that I’m enough in control that I can get them to safety before the fire gets too hot again! And I’m not at all in control right now!”

“Have you ever burned anyone before?” 

“Well, n-no… But I’ve just gotten lucky!” Tadashi stammers out. “I burn things all the time… I  _ destroy _ things without even meaning to! Do you know why I ran away last night? Because I lost control and I almost set the freaking bed on fire!”

“That definitely explains things,” Fred says and, to Tadashi’s complete and utter belief, he  _ laughs _ .

“What are you laughing at? This is  _ serious _ , Fred!” How could Fred be laughing when he was in mortal danger?

“I know. I can tell this is really serious to you,” Fred answers, his voice more gentle this time. “But here’s the thing, Dashi--I’ve been following Big Hero 6 for a very, very long time. And I’ve got a theory about you. I don’t think you can burn people.” 

“What? Of course I can burn people! That’s why I have to be so careful!” Tadashi shouts--why wasn’t Fred taking this seriously? Did he want to get hurt?

“Nuh uh.” Fred shakes his head, a smile twitching at the edge of his lips. “Look, I don’t know how exactly your powers work--and I’ve definitely got a lot of questions about them that I’ll be asking later--but as much as you’re trying to tell me that you’re not in control of them, I think you’re a lot more in control than you think. I think that whatever does give you control over them keeps you from hurting people--even if you’re not consciously trying to do it, I think there’s something so good inside of you that it refuses to let you burn people. Things, yeah, no doubt, I saw you light up a whole bus one time! But not people.”

“Y-You can’t know that for sure!” Tadashi cries--this was insane, Fred had no idea what he was talking about! “And I’m not going to let you put yourself at risk just to prove some theory!”

“I’m not doing it to prove a theory--I’m doing it because I want to be with you, and I think you want to be with me too but you’re letting fear keep you from being happy,” Fred answers gently, and, before Tadashi can stop him, he starts to reach out for him.

“Fred, fuck, no, you’re going to get hurt!” he shouts, but, not heeding his warning, Fred wraps his arms around him, pulling him right up against his chest. 

Tadashi steels himself for the cries of pain and the smell of burning flesh, waiting for Fred to pull away from him and to realize that he’d just signed his own death warrant. But they never came. 

“W-What?” Tadashi gasps when, almost a full thirty seconds later, nothing had happened.

“See? What did I tell you?” Fred says tenderly, pulling away to smile at him before pecking him on the cheek. “You’re a lot more in control than you think you are.”

“O-Oh my God…” Tadashi breathes, and his suddenly feels his fire go out, leaving him trembling in Fred’s arms, the tears he’d been trying to cry finally free to streak their way down his no longer burning skin. 

“There you go,” Fred tells him soothingly, pulling him close again and starting to rub his back. “It’s okay. You’re okay.”

“I-I can’t believe this,” Tadashi whispers, shaking his head, his hands clenching in the fabric of Fred’s t-shirt. “All this time… I-I’ve spent all this time being so afraid…” 

“I think you just needed someone to show you that they believed in you,” Fred answers gently, and, for the first time in longer than he could remember, Tadashi let himself just relax and let go. And it felt  _ amazing _ . 

“You do realize that I can still accidentally set things on fire and I’m liable to burst into flame at random moments, right?” he finally says, his brain choosing to bring up all the remaining possibilities for how things could go wrong. 

“I can most definitely live with that,” Fred reassures him, sounding slightly amused. “I’m guessing you probably have ways of avoiding major accidents in your day to day life?” 

“Well, we have fireproofed most of the things in the house, as well as all of our clothes,” Tadashi answers sheepishly. “But mostly I use my hoodie since that keeps me from being able to use my powers so I don’t have to worry about things as much….”

“...Shit. This was totally my fault for telling you to take off your hoodie at dinner, wasn’t it?” Fred says, eyes going wide. “I’m so sorry, if I’d known--!”

“It’s okay, Fred,” Tadashi reassures him. “Seriously. I’m glad you did now. If I’d had it on, I wouldn’t have been able to move that car and we’d probably would have been roadkill right now.” 

“True,” Fred agrees slowly. “That was still really, really cool seeing you do that! I can’t believe that I got personally saved by Sunfire!” 

His tone was playful, and it was clear that he meant well, but Tadashi still winces.

“...Okay, so apparently you do still have some issues with the whole Sunfire thing,” Fred says slowly. “I don’t want to pry, but is it okay if I ask why? I just want to make sure that I’m not doing anything to hurt you.” 

“I… It’s complicated,” Tadashi sighs. “Ever since the fire… Whenever I’m out in public, people treat me like shit just because of my scars. I-I’ve been asked to leave businesses because they claimed that I was scaring away customers.”

“They’ve done  _ what _ ?!” Fred cries, looking fully ready to go tear apart whoever had done that. “That is horrible, they should be sued for ever doing that to you--”

“Please, let me finish,” Tadashi sighs, appreciating Fred’s support but needing to get the rest of the story. 

“Right, sorry,” Fred apologizes sheepishly. “Please continue!”

“Thank you.” Tadashi gently squeezes his hand to show he wasn’t upset. “A-After I became a ‘hero’ and the media started calling me Sunfire... Somehow it just made me feel even worse about myself. Like, I never asked to be Sunfire, and the thing that caused me to be him and have powers I couldn’t control was the exact same thing that causes so many people to treat me like I’m not even human when I’m not covered in flames and saving the day. I-I hate the fact that fact that people hate the real me and yet they love--or claim to love--the part of me that I don’t even want...”

Fred is silent for a few seconds, clearly waiting to make sure that Tadashi was finished talking this time, and then he reaches out to cup Tadashi’s cheek in his hand. 

“Dashi, I’m so, so sorry that that’s happened to you,” he says softly. “It’s not even remotely okay, and I want you to know that I think you’re amazing exactly the way that you are. I-I like both parts of you, but Tadashi is the guy I met and fell for, not Sunfire. I hope that someday you might be able to accept both parts of yourself, but since I can definitely understand why Sunfire is a really, really rough subject for you, I swear I’ll do my very best to avoid ever calling you that, even when you’re in hero form--or whatever you call if--if it’s going to make you uncomfortable.”

“Thank you.” Tadashi gratefully leans into the touch. “I-I know that Sunfire isn’t going away so I need to get used to him… But I think having someone other than just my family and the friends I’ve had since before the fire liking me as Tadashi would help me not not hate him so much.”

“Then I am going to bolster the hell out of your Tadashi side until you have nothing but confidence in yourself!” Fred tells him 

“That means the world to me.” Tadashi wraps his arms around Fred, burying his face into his chest, and Fred instantly returns the hug. 

“Of course.” Fred lightly kisses the top of his head, just holding him, which is exactly what Tadashi needed. 

Finally, after what felt like a very long time, Tadashi pulls away, saying sheepishly, “I feel like I kind of majorly got our date off track…”

“Hey, you just made it a lot more interesting!” Fred jokes. “But seriously, I’m very much okay with whatever you want to do right now. I know you’ve been through a lot, so if you need to head home I definitely get that. But if you want to stay out and do something to get your mind off of things, I am okay with that too! Just tell me what you want to do and I’ll make it happen.”

“That is super incredibly sweet of you,” Tadashi says with a smile, squeezing his hand. “I definitely want to keep spending time with you right now. But I’m also not sure I’m up for being out someplace super public at the moment…” 

“Hm… We could always go back to my place and hang out?” Fred offers. “No one would bother us there, and we can do whatever we want--my parents are in Europe and it’s late enough that most of the staff won’t be there, and even if they were they wouldn’t bother us.” 

“That sounds wonderful,” Tadashi admits. 

“Great!” Fred chuckles. “Let’s get somewhere with an actual street address where I can text Heathcliff to pick us up and then we should be good to go--I’m yours for whatever you want for the rest of the evening.” 

“You seriously are a prince charming, you know that?” Tadashi says with a smile as Fred takes his hand in his own.

“Aww, well that seems fitting for you, Cinderfella,” Fred playfully teases. 

“True!” Tadashi laughs. “Now all we need is a glass slipper.”

“Will this work in place of it?” Fred asks, untying something from his waist and holding it out to him.

“Oh my gosh, my hoodie!” Tadashi cries, gratefully accepting it and putting it back on. “Thank you, I was scared it was still back at the restaurant!”

“I’m just glad I thought to grab it before chasing off after you,” Fred answers with a laugh. “I didn’t realize how important it was at the time, but now I’m even more glad that I didn’t leave it!”

“Thank you.” Tadashi flashes him an embarrassed smile. “I-I’m sorry you had to chase me this far…”

“Hey, Heathcliff’s always telling me that I need to get more exercise so it was probably good for me,” Fred jokes before squeezing his hand and adding, “Besides, I’d chase after you anywhere.” 

Blushing bright pink, Tadashi squeezes back. He didn’t know what he’d done to deserve Fred, but maybe the universe was finally doing him a good turn.

It fortunately didn’t take too long to get back out to a main road where there were shops again, and it was only a short while after that that Heathcliff pulled up to the curb to pick them up. Fred made up an excuse about them deciding to go for a walk after eating to explain how they’d ended up blocks away from where they’d been dropped off, but somehow Tadashi got the feeling that Heathcliff wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow at things even without an explanation.

“So, what do you feel like doing?” Fred asks once they’re safely inside the house (or, more accurately, mansion--Tadashi was still trying to wrap his brain around how huge this place was, but after the limo thing he decided that he probably shouldn’t have been surprised.) 

“Um… Something not too active,” Tadashi admits. “I mean, we both just did a lot of running…”

“True!” Fred laughs, and Tadashi was relieved to find that he was okay with joking around about what they’d just been through together. “I know that we were talking about going out to see a movie--do you maybe want to stay in and watch a movie instead? We do have a home theater here.”

“Staying in and watching a movie sounds great,” Tadashi admits gratefully. 

“Perfect! I’ll see if I can get us some popcorn from the kitchen if you want to go pick out a movie?” Fred offers

“Sounds great,” Tadashi agrees.

As it turned out, Fred wasn’t kidding about the theater part of home theater--it really was like being in a movie theater auditorium, just scaled down a bit (there were only four rows of chairs, although the screen still filled up the width a whole wall.) The “movie vault” (which Fred had jokingly called the small walk-in closet with shelves of movies which Tadashi had a feeling was a Disney reference) was extremely well stocked, and it took him a bit to narrow down his choices. Still, by the time that Fred returned with a large bowl of popcorn, he felt fairly confident in his choice. 

“Oh my gosh.” Fred bursts out laughing as Tadashi hands him the case for  _ Toy Story _ . “Yes, very nice choice.” 

“I’m not letting you out of your promise about doing a couple’s cosplay of Buzz and Woody, you should know that right now,” Tadashi answers playfully as Fred goes to put the movie in. “I’ve wanted to do a couple’s cosplay for longer than I can remember, and you’re going to make a very sexy Woody.”

“You’re going to be trouble, aren’t you?” Fred laughs, coming back to sit next to him in the middle row. 

“I thought you already knew that!” Tadashi answers with a grin, lifting the chair arm between their seats so that he could snuggle up against Fred. 

“Yes, yes I did,” Fred replies, wrapping an arm around him. “And I stand by my choice to date you for as long as you want to date me.”

“Good,” Tadashi says a bit impishly--he was feeling playful now that he had no more secrets or fears to keep from Fred--before happily settling against him to watch the movie.

“What time do you call this, young man?” Hiro asks when, at 10 pm, Tadashi comes walking in the front door, feeling like he was floating on cloud 9. 

“Um, not nearly as late as you usually come in after a date with Ezra?” Tadashi answers as he closes and locks the door behind him--he and Fred had already had their goodnight kiss in the limo, he knew that if he let Fred walk him to the door Hiro would just embarrass him. 

“Exactly!” Hiro cries. “This is no respectable time for you to be coming back home after your date! I expected you to be at least out until 2 am doing things you should morally not tell your little brother about but which I would then be allowed to imagine you did! Coming back by 10 pm is just so morally responsible that it’s sickening. I am very disappointed in you, young sir!” 

Tadashi just shakes his head before flopping down next to his brother on the couch, picking up one of the throw pillows to hug to his chest as his mind happily replays all of the amazing moments from the date. 

“...Okay, so maybe not so morally responsible based on the dopey grin on your face,” Hiro notes, starting to smile. “All right, spill, bro! How was it? Please tell me that he was a gentleman out in public but not so much when it came to getting you into the bedroom.” 

“Hiro, seriously! Is all that you care about is if I got fucked on this date?” Tadashi groans, whacking him lightly with the pillow. 

“Yes! If anyone needs it, it’s you!” Hiro answers, batting the pillow away. “Now tell me what happened!”

“We didn’t have sex, Hiro,” Tadashi sighs, rolling his eyes before adding teasingly, “We’ve agreed that’s more of a ninth date thing.”

“Good, then I’m morally bound to make sure that you guys get to that ninth date! Quick, get back out there and you can squeeze in another date tonight and you’ll already be up to two!”

“ _ Hiro! _ ”

“All right, all right, I’m kidding!” Hiro puts up his hands to block the pillow. “But seriously--was it a good date?” 

“The best,” Tadashi answers with a sigh, and he didn’t care how lovesick he sounded because he already knew he was in deep and he didn’t care who else knew it.

“Good.” Hiro beams at him. “And the good news is I have your blazer done so you can look respectable on your next date!”

“Thanks,” Tadashi says before adding carefully, “But he’s kind of already seen me without the hoodie…”

“Wait.” Hiro frowns at him. “Do you mean… Without the hoodie, or  _ without _ the hoodie?”

“ _ Without _ the hoodie.”

“Holy fuck--Tadashi!” Tadashi winces at the tone in Hiro’s voice. “Seriously? On the first date?!” 

“It wasn’t on purpose! And jeez, you’re more worried about him knowing about my powers than about me having sex with him?” 

“Um, yes! You know how many people have it out for us! You’re putting him and us in danger!” 

“Look, I swear, I didn’t mean for it to happen! But there was a drunk driver, and if I hadn’t used my powers we both would have been dead!” 

“...Oh.” Hiro sobers slightly. “Yeah, I guess that is a good reason then… How’d he take it?” 

“Really well, surprisingly,” Tadashi answers, hugging his pillow closer. “I mean… As soon as I used my powers I ran off so he wouldn’t see me going full blaze, but he chased after me for, like, five city blocks through back alleys because he didn’t want to lose me…”

“Wow.” Hiro lets out a quiet whistle. “That’s some pretty impressive dedication…”

“I know,” Tadashi agrees softly. “And then… He wasn’t afraid of me, Hiro. I-I kept telling him to stay back so he wouldn’t get burned, but he full-on hugged me just to prove he wasn’t scared. And he said he has this theory that maybe, somehow, I can’t burn people, only objects. A-And I think he might be right…”

Hiro was quiet for a moment, and then he reaches over to put his hand on top of Tadashi’s. “I’m still not sure I can fully approve of him knowing this early on… But I know you couldn’t help what happened, and it sounds like it helped you a lot, so if you want to keep this thing with him going, I’m in full support of it. But… Maybe let’s wait on him finding out the civilian identities of the rest of the team until we’ve gotten to know him a bit better?”

“That I am fully and completely in agreement with.” Tadashi nods his approval.

“Good.” Hiro grins and playfully ruffles his hair, making Tadashi laugh and bat his hands away.

“Stop it! I thought you were saying I needed to look cooler!”

“When you’re on your date, yeah, but at home you’re still a dork so you can have messy hair!”

“Rude!” Tadashi playfully huffs, crossing his arms over his chest, before smiling up at Hiro and playfully ruffling his hair too. “Thanks again for getting me to do this, Hiro. I-I don’t think I would have had the courage to do this on my own, but this was the best day that I’ve had in a really, really long time…”

“Sure thing, nii-chan,” Hiro answers. “You know I’ve always got your back.”

“And I’ve always got your back too.” 

“Yeah, I know. That’s what brothers are for, right?”

“Right--that’s exactly what brothers are for.”


	7. Chapter 7

The next few weeks passed peacefully. Fred and Tadashi got up to their fourth date--not including the casual hanging out that they did outside of official dates--and Tadashi was very happily adjusting to life with a guy who he very much hoped would soon officially be his boyfriend. They’d both agreed not to put a label on things too soon to avoid putting pressure on their relationship, but Tadashi was pretty sure both of them knew that this would be a lot more than just a casual fling. 

As for meeting the rest of the Big Hero 6 team, Tadashi and Hiro had agreed to put a hold on that. Tadashi wanted some privacy to get to know Fred better in before letting his friends put their relationship under scrutiny. Hiro, for his part, felt that introducing Fred to their friends, even without telling him who they were, would probably raise a lot of suspicions and lead to him figuring out who they were. (They were pretty sure that Fred knew or highly suspected that Hiro was the Leader but by silent mutual agreement Fred wasn’t asking for any information that wasn’t being offered him--fortunately he seemed to understand the importance of secret identities.) It wasn’t that Hiro didn’t think that Fred was trustworthy, but he still felt they should get to know him better before revealing everything to him, which Tadashi agreed was a wise choice.

The rest of the team seemed to agree as well--while they weren’t disinterested in meeting Fred, they also understood the importance of keeping their secret so they weren’t pushing to meet him immediately. Well, all of them shared that sentiment except for Honey Lemon, who was practically begging to meet Fred almost the moment she heard that Tadashi was dating him.

“C’mon!” Honey Lemon tries to cajole the elder Hamada one afternoon. “I need to meet your boyfriend! You don’t have to tell him I’m Chemica--if you just introduce me it’s less suspicious than introducing the whole team, right? He can’t assume that ALL of your friends are on the team!”

“Honey, is this really the right time for this?” Tadashi groans.

“Well you keep avoiding the subject!” Honey Lemon answers. 

“We are literally in the middle of a fight with a supervillain!” Tadashi cries, blasting a bot that had gotten too close. 

“So? I have you as a captive audience!” Honey Lemon throws one of her chem balls at a different robot, causing it to be covered in a thick layer of ice. “Now you have to talk to me!”

“Look, Fred and I are almost at our one month anniversary! If things are still going well and Hiro gives me the green light  _ then _ I’ll introduce you!” Tadashi shouts back, using his fire to melt a hole right through three successive bots. 

“...Fine,” Honey Lemon answers, sighing dramatically. “But I don’t like all this secrecy!” 

“It’s not secrecy, it’s just playing things safe,” Tadashi reminds her as he sees Hiro and Baymax managing to take down the largest robot and capture the man who was inside it. As soon as the big robot went offline, so did all the smaller ones, and Tadashi was relieved to see that it looked like this mission was successfully over. As the others start helping collect the downed robots to be disposed of and Hiro makes sure that the bad guy was safely handed over to the authorities, Tadashi soars up into the air, doing a perimeter sweep of the area to check for any remaining bots that might still somehow be active or for any bystanders that might have been injured. It bothered him that people would not only not run away from a fight, but as soon as a fight was posted on the news people would come flocking to watch. It was incredibly dangerous--civilians were needlessly hurt because of it--but all the same people treated these fights like they were a sporting event or some public form of entertainment no matter how many times the team asked them to stay away for everyone’s safety.

Fortunately this time around it looked like the team had stopped the villain in time--no one seemed to be injured, which was a huge relief. Some of the crowd had already started to wander away now that the action was over, but a few die-hard fans were sticking around, probably in hopes that the bad guy might try to make a break for it, or else because they wanted a chance to ask the team for pictures or autographs (completely ignoring the fact that the team had had to enstate a no pictures/no autographs rule outside of specified events because people would purposefully put themselves in harm's way just to get a picture.)

Tadashi lets out a quiet groan as he sees a group of giggly teenagers who were clearly Sunfire fangirls--there was no mistaking the homemade t-shirts and posterboard signs. It had just been uncomfortable before, especially as it was very public knowledge that he was openly gay, but it was really starting to annoy him now that he was in a committed relationship. Not that he could make that public knowledge without making Fred a target… Sometimes he really, really hated the complexities of superhero life.

Letting out a sigh, he prepares to touch down and go back to helping the team (and hopefully avoid the fangirls), only to suddenly spot a familiar face in the crowd. Oh gosh. No, there was no way that he could have--!

And yet there he was--looking embarrassed and maybe a little bit guilty, Fred was standing on the sidewalk behind the police barricade. 

“Sorry!” he sees Fred mouthing to him. “I got caught in the middle!”

Well, at least this had apparently been an accident. Tadashi had specifically asked Fred to stay away from the fights (both for his safety and because of Hiro’s concerns about keeping the team’s identities secret) and to date Fred had been very good about honoring his request. Somehow Tadashi doubted that Fred minded having gotten stuck at the fight, but as long as it wasn’t intentional that he’d been there in the first place he couldn’t blame him for it. And, since he was already here, maybe he could at least get something good (and maybe just a little bit fun) out of this…

Giving Fred an exaggeratedly coy wink, Tadashi uses his fire to draw a smoky heart in the air and then blows it in his direction. Fred, seeing this, blushes bright red but beams up at him, not seeming to mind the attention. 

Slowly, making sure that the fangirls could get a very good view of this, Tadashi makes his way down to the ground, touching down just in front of Fred. 

“Hey there,” he purrs playfully, leaning against the barricade (being very careful to keep his temperature low enough not to catch anything on fire.)

“H-Hey!” Fred answers, clearly a bit unsure as to where this was going but playing along nonetheless. 

“Don’t think I’ve seen you around here before,” Tadashi continues seductively, resting his weight on one hip and making it clear that he was making himself nice and comfortable. “You been in the city long? Maybe visiting from out of town?” He gives Fred a playful wink and then subtly jerks his head towards the fangirls, who were not looking at all pleased by this turn of events.

“O-Oh, yeah, I’m new in town!” Fred answers, grinning and picking up on what he was trying to do. “I never imagined things would be so exciting here when I moved from Texas!” 

“Well in that case, welcome to San Fransokyo!” Tadashi grins at him, trying to remain in-character. “I’m Sunfire. And you are--?”

“Woody. Woody Pride,” Fred answers with a shit eating grin and Tadashi just about loses the fight to keep from laughing out loud. 

“Woody, huh? And you're from Texas? Any chance you’re a cowboy?” he asks, this time making Fred struggle to keep a straight face. 

“Oh, yeah, absolutely!” Fred answers teasingly. 

“Well, since you’re new, maybe I can show you around the city sometime, cowboy?” Tadashi asks, playfully tilting Fred’s chin up with his hand. 

“I-I’d love that,” Fred breathes, gazing up into Tadashi’s eyes, and it was clear that he was very close to losing the battle to stay in character. 

Well, since they were doing this, they might as well go all the way with it, Tadashi decides. He leans down and presses a kiss to Fred’s lips, and he was rewarded with both a soft moan from Fred and a very loud chorus of jealous shrieks and angry cries from the girls behind him. 

“I will find  _ you _ later,” Tadashi says as he pulls away, loud enough for the girls to hear him, before whispering to Fred, “Meet me by the coffee shop around the corner in ten, okay? We should be done here by then.”

Fred nods in agreement, looking slightly dazed, and Tadashi was grinning to himself as he flies back over to join his team, who were already making their exit from the scene.

“Wow. Really subtle, bro,” Hiro deadpans as they reach a back alley where they could change out of costume in private. “You do realize that’s exactly what we’ve been  _ trying _ to avoid, right? People seeing Fred as a target?”

“I just couldn’t deal with those fangirls today,” Tadashi answers, not feeling terribly guilty. “It was one thing for them to be hitting on me when I was single, it’s another for them to be doing it when I’m dating someone. I had to do  _ something _ .” 

“C’mon, Hiro,” Ezra says, lightly nudging Hiro’s arm. “Cut him some slack. Remember when that girl Karmi wouldn’t leave you alone so we purposefully staged a kiss while in our suits to get her off your back?” 

“...True,” Hiro finally admits begrudgingly. 

“And then that led to us admitting our feelings to each other so we started dating?” Ezra continues with a grin. “Wasn’t that a good thing?” 

“Fine!” Hiro sighs. “Whatever! But I still don’t want Fred getting put in the line of fire because people think he and Sunfire are dating!”

“It was just flirting, Hiro--I swear it won’t happen again when I’m Sunfire,” Tadashi promises. 

“You’d better keep that promise.” Hiro gives him a glare that showed he meant business.

“I will. I definitely will.” Tadashi lifts his right hand like he was swearing an oath to show that he meant it.

“Hm--might be easier to get those fangirls off your back if Fred was on the team too,” Ezra muses. “Then the two of your could stage a proper kiss and be a couple in public…”

Tadashi’s brain freezes at that--wait, Fred as a superhero? He knew that Fred would definitely love getting to be on the team. And damn, he would look really attractive in armor…

“So that was him, Dashi?” Honey Lemon squeals, interrupting his train of thought. “That was the guy you’ve been dating?”

“Y-Yeah, it was…” Tadashi agrees, starting to feel embarrassed but trying to keep his emotions under control so he could power down and take off the bodysuit he wore over his regular clothes as Sunfire. (Unlike the others, he didn’t need a mask because the fire did a pretty good job of hiding his true appearance, and fire inside of a helmet meant smoke buildup that made it impossible to breathe, but the bodysuit did at least give him a more professional look than street clothes, even if it couldn’t be seen through the fire most of the time.)

“Awww! He’s seriously cute!” Honey Lemon coos. 

“Thanks.” Tadashi beams at her, glad that she approved. (Not that anyone’s opinion would change his mind on Fred, but it was still nice.)

“Soooo… Does this mean we get to meet him now?” Honey Lemon asks eagerly. 

“I…” Tadashi glances over at Hiro--even though he was the older brother and so had authority on most things, Hiro was the team leader and so he was the one who made decisions on anything regarding Big Hero 6. 

Hiro frowns. “I’m not sure… I mean, it seems like Fred’s trustworthy, but I’m still not fully convinced…”

“Please, Hiro?” Honey Lemon clasps her hands together, pleading. “I really, really want to meet Dashi’s boyfriend!”

“He’s technically not officially my boyfriend yet,” Tadashi puts in, only to be completely ignored.

“Please?” Honey Lemon begs. “Please? Please, please, please, please please--”

“Oh my gosh! All right!” Hiro cries, throwing his hands up in the air. “Fine! Whoever wants to risk their secret identities is allowed to go!”

“Yes!” Honey Lemon skips eagerly over to her girlfriend. “Gogo, you’re coming, right?” 

“Yeah, I’m pretty curious to meet this guy myself,” Gogo answers, cracking her gum.

“Could be fun--we need to make sure he’s a gentleman and treating our Tadashi right,” Wasabi agrees.

“Hiro? D-Do you mind if I go?” Ezra asks a bit sheepishly.

“...Okay, fine, apparently we’re doing this!” Hiro groans. “But this isn’t on my head if it turns out Fred’s in league with a supervillain somehow or if he ends up getting kidnapped for being connected with us!” 

Tadashi couldn’t keep a grin off of his face--apparently Fred was in for an even bigger surprise than he possibly could have planned for him. 

A few minutes later, once they were all back in civilian clothes, Tadashi leads the way to the cafe around the corner where Fred was waiting for him. 

“Hey!” Fred, who was waiting at table just outside the shop’s door, stands up and waves to Tadashi when he sees him coming. 

“Hi!” Tadashi answers, beaming at him and waving back. 

“Um… Dashi, you didn’t tell me that you were bringing anyone?” Fred says a bit uncertainly as he seems to realize that the others following Tadashi were with him. “I mean, no sweat if you did, I just didn’t know that we were planning to do a group activity and not a one-on-one thing…?”

“Sorry, this was a kind of spur of the moment thing,” Tadashi apologizes, kissing him on the cheek. “I just thought that you might want to meet these people finally.”

“Meet them…. Finally?” Fred repeats, glancing back at the others in confusion for a moment, but then his eyes widen as the realization of who exactly he was in the presence seems to dawn on him. “Holy shit!” 

“Hey, hey, no freaking out in public!” Hiro hisses, clearly worried that they were drawing attention to themselves, and to be fair a few passerbyers were looking their way. 

“Do you think there’s somewhere private we could take this?” Tadashi asks more gently, reaching out for Fred’s hand.

“U-Um, yeah, s-sure!” Fred answers, seeming slightly shaken but mostly excited. “I mean, I think you and I were talking about just hanging out at my place so if you wanted to take everyone there? Heathcliff should be here in a couple minutes and he can drive us over!” 

“Sounds perfect,” Tadashi agrees.

“I don’t know who Heathcliff is, but is whatever he drives going to be big enough for all of us?” Gogo asks, glancing around at their group. 

“I-I mean, it’s a limo, so probably?” Fred stammers, seeming slightly intimidated by talking to her.

“Oh. Wow, okay, yeah, that should be big enough,” Gogo agrees, blinking in surprise. 

“...Does he work for a funeral parlor or something? Not sure I’m cool sharing a ride with a dead body…” Wasabi asks worriedly.

“Um, no, my dad just… H-He owns a lot of companies and he likes to collect nice cars?” Fred answers, seeming to be getting even more flustered.

“Is Heathcliff your dad?” Honey Lemon asks kindly, cleary trying to make him feel less uncomfortable. 

“N-No, he’s kind of the butler…” Fred mumbles, going bright red. 

“Tadashi, you didn’t tell us you were dating Dick Grayson!” Ezra playfully teases. 

“Guys, c’mon, lay off!” Tadashi gives them a warning look, concerned by how freaked out Fred was looking--he’d wanted this to be a good first meeting for all of them, but this wasn’t going at all how he’d hoped. 

“And there’s Heathcliff!” Fred says, looking relieved as he points to the limo that was pulling up to the curb. 

“Damn. That’s a nice ride,” Gogo says approvingly, seeming impressed. 

“A really nice ride,” Wasabi agrees as Fred opens the door for all of them getting inside. 

“Definitely no dead bodies in here--not unless you’re hiding anything in the trunk!” Ezra adds jokingly. 

“Trust me, if there were dead bodies anywhere in here I’d be just as surprised as you,” Fred answers with a wry smile.

“See? There you go! Loosening up already!” Ezra grins at him as he ducks inside. 

“Eh heh… Sure?” Fred looks over to Tadashi for confirmation. 

“You’re doing fine,” Tadashi quietly reassures him. “Just be yourself. They’ve all been begging to meet you, and I know that they’re going to love you.” 

“I’m kind of seriously freaking out,” Fred whispers back, hesitating outside the door. “I mean, it was one thing finding out who you were after we’d already met and gotten to know each other. I’m going into this entirely blind!”

“Just treat them like you’d treat anyone else!”

“Easy for you to say! You ever experienced meeting one of your favorite celebrities at a convention? Because that’s pretty much how I’m feeling right now!” 

“Oh… Got it.” Tadashi nods. He definitely understood that feeling. “Well... I mean, you’ve already met Hiro a few times, right? So that’s one person you already know. And I swear all of the others are really, really nice. They’ve been with me through… Well, more than I could even care to try to repeat. Trust me. You have nothing to worry about. And if you need help, just squeeze my hand and I’ll try to come to the rescue.”

“You do seem to have a thing for rescuing people, don’t you?” Fred says, a small smile forming on his lips.

“Yes, yes I do,” Tadashi agrees, pecking him on the cheek. “Now c’mon. Let’s not keep everyone waiting.”

And, with that, Fred lets him lead him inside of the limo.


	8. Chapter 8

“Um, Heathcliff, could you please put the privacy barrier up?” Fred asks as he slides onto the seat next to Tadashi.

“Of course, sir,” Heathcliff answers, and the little barrier slides all the way up.

“So, um… Wow. Y-You guys are Big Hero 6?” Fred asks once the barrier was closed. 

“That thing soundproof?” Hiro asks, looking suspiciously at the barrier. 

“You wouldn’t be able to hear through it if a bomb was going off--trust me, I’ve definitely tested the capabilities on it, and Heathcliff’s not going to hear anything unless we specifically use the intercom to page him,” Fred reassures him. 

“And there aren’t any recording devices in here?”

“Definitely not.” 

“Okay, good.” Hiro nods, seeming to finally relax. “All right then. Yeah, we’re Big Hero 6. Surprise?”

“Okay, I swear I’m trying not to geek out but seriously…  _ This is the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me!” _ Fred cries, and Tadashi could see that he’s keeping his hands tightly clenched in his lap to keep from overly expressing himself in the slightly crowded space.

“Aww! Well we’re super excited to meet you too, Freddy, Tadashi’s told us so much about you!” Honey Lemon beams at him.

“I-- W-Wow, you guys wanted to meet me?” Fred asks, blushing bright red. 

“Of course!” Honey Lemon beams at him. “This is the first time Tadashi’s ever dated anyone, and from everything he’s said you’re a total sweetheart!”

“And it’s true!” Tadashi says, pecking him on the cheek.

“Dashi!” Fred protests with a laugh, but he can’t keep a smile off of his face. 

“So… This is pretty crazy,” Fred admits when Tadashi pulls away. “I mean… I-I know so much about you guys and at the same time it feels like I don’t know anything at all… None of the important stuff, anyways…”

“Well, let’s start with introductions,” Tadashi says, knowing that introducing Fred to his friends by their civilian identities might help things feel more normal. 

“Sure, sounds good!” Fred agrees quickly with a nod.

“All right, so, you already know Hiro.”

“Right! And is he--?”

“Yeah, he’s the Team Leader.”

“Got it! That is seriously so awesome--”

“No fanboying!” Hiro puts his hands up. “Not allowed! Not here, not anywhere!”

“Yep, I’m the only one allowed to do that,” Ezra playfully purrs, pulling Hiro onto his lap.

“Ez!” Hiro protests, his cheeks turning bright red.

“As you’ve probably guessed, Ezra is Dev,” Tadashi says, shaking his head. 

“Hey!” Ezra waves cheerfully. 

“Yeah, I kinda got that from the blue hair and kissing Hiro thing,” Fred chuckles, seeming to be relaxing slightly. 

“Ooh, ooh, please, me next, me next!” Honey Lemon begs. 

“All right, so that’s Chemica, a.k.a. Aiko, but we usually call her Honey Lemon,” Tadashi continues.

“That’s a super cute nickname, I love it!” Fred beams at her before looking at her outfit and asking curiously, “Is it because you like to dress in yellow?” 

“That, and I’m pretty much obsessed with honey lemon tea--you don’t usually see me anywhere without it!” Honey Lemon giggles. 

“Next to Honey Lemon is her girlfriend, Falconblade,” Tadashi continues the introductions. “She goes by Gogo. Her real name is Ethel but she likes being called that as much as Tonks liked being called Nymphadora.” 

“Got it, Gogo it is,” Fred quickly agrees, and Tadashi could guess that he sensed Gogo wasn’t someone to cross.

“Moving on, that’s Plasmosis, who prefers to be called David but he’s been Wasabi to the rest of us ever since a rather infamous sushi incident so we’ll leave it up to you which name you call him,” Tadashi chuckles. 

“David/Wasabi,” Fred repeats, nodding, and Tadashi got the feeling he was waiting until he knew Wasabi better to decide which name he’d be using (which was probably the smartest choice.)

“I think that’s everyone… Oh, except for Baymax, who’s in the case over there, but you’ve already met him.” 

“Wait, how is Baymax connected with-- Oh. Oh my gosh! Baymax! Is he--?” 

“Yeah, he’s Crimson Streak,” Tadashi agrees, unable to hide a bit of a smirk.

“I-- How does a huggable nursebot like Baymax become a badass fighter like Crimson?!” Fred cries. 

“With a lot of modifications and some awesome armor made by yours truly,” Hiro answers, not even bothering to try to sound modest. 

“...That is seriously, seriously impressive!” 

“Thanks!” Hiro grins at him, and Tadashi knew from that that they weren’t going to be having any more trouble with Hiro not trusting Fred--at least for a bit.

“So, how did you guys all meet?” Fred asks, glancing around at the group. “I mean, I kinda know the history of Big Hero 6, as much as anyone else--about Professor Callaghan setting fire to the Expo hall so he could steal a student’s invention and then Big Hero 6 showing up when he tried to take out Alistair Krei as revenge for his daughter, Abigail’s, accident. But no one really knows how the team formed or how they knew to show up to stop Callaghan--”

He trails off when he sees the looks on the others faces. “I… Said something I shouldn’t have, didn’t I?” he slowly asks.

“It’s… Complicated,” Tadashi sighs. “Professor Callaghan was my mentor. He was friends with Hiro’s and my parents before they died, and he was a lot like a dad to me. I studied under him at SFIT--that’s where all of us go except Ezra, and he’s planning to go next year when he graduates high school.”

“The student whose invention Callaghan stole was mine,” Hiro continues darkly. “I was applying to get into SFIT so I could go to school there with Dashi. I thought I’d be studying under one of my heroes. Only it turns out Callaghan wasn’t so heroic after all since he didn’t mind anyone else getting hurt so he could get his revenge--even his supposed ‘favorite student’.” 

“Hiro, Callaghan didn’t know that I was going to try to run in to save him!” Tadashi starts to protest. 

“Well even if it wasn’t you, it could have been a rescue worker or someone else! He put a bunch of lives needlessly at risk and he almost took you away from me for good because he just wanted his stupid revenge on Krei!” Hiro hisses angrily. 

“...I’m not going to argue with you on the fact that what he did was wrong,” Tadashi finally answers quietly. “But I’m also not about to excuse myself from the fact that what I did was pretty stupid too.” 

“Dashi… We’ve talked about this…” Hiro’s expression softens. “It wasn’t your fault--”

“It was Callaghan’s fault for setting the fire, but it was my fault for trying to go in after him when I knew it was hopeless! We’re just lucky I got away with a really, really weird mutation and these scars instead of things being worse…”

“I-Is the fire how you got your powers?” Fred asks tentatively. 

“Yeah, it is,” Tadashi agrees with a sigh, glad that Fred was giving him a momentary out from the ongoing argument that he and Hiro had been having for far, far too long which neither of them was ever going to win. “There must have been a bunch of weird stuff mixed up in the fumes from the fire and… Well, here we are. In the end it turned out to be a blessing in disguise--my powers helped us catch Callaghan once we realized that there was something suspicious about the Expo fire. We might not have realized it if Hiro wasn’t fixated on trying to find a reason for why the fire happened in the first place--” 

“I wasn’t fixated!” Hiro protests.

“--but we eventually figured it out and stopped Callaghan just in time,” Tadashi continues, ignoring him. “After that, we didn’t really plan to continue being heroes. We figured we’d done our job so we’d hang up the suits and go back to our normal lives as much as we could. But then other bad guys started showing up that we knew we could help stop, and none of us felt like we could just ignore the fact that people needed our help, and so we’ve been this team ever since.” 

“Got it.” Fred nods slowly. “Thanks for telling me. S-Sorry if I brought up some bad stuff, I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s fine,” Tadashi answers, but after he said those words an awkward silence fell over the limo. He himself was still dealing with the backlash from the memories of the fire and Callaghan’s betrayal (which hurt a hell of a lot more than he tried to let on), and he could tell that Hiro wasn’t too happy with his retelling of the events either so there was still some silent tension between them.

“So, Freddy, where do you go to school?” Honey Lemon finally asks brightly, clearly trying to clear the air. 

“O-Oh, I go to SF State!” Fred answers, quickly latching onto her olive branch.

“SF State? That’s where my girlfriend goes!” Wasabi says, seeming to be glad for the change of subject as well.

“She’s also my little sister, but yeah, that’s where she goes,” Gogo adds, side-eyeing him, and Tadashi tries not to sigh audibly--so apparently Gogo’s acceptance of the fact that Wasabi and her little sister were dating still wasn’t great. How many arguments could they manage to squeeze into one car ride? 

“Cool! What does she study?” Fred asks curiously, not appearing to quite notice the tension, or at least trying to keep the peace. 

“She’s an art major,” Gogo answers before Wasabi can. 

“Oh, nice! I’ve got a few friends in the art department!” Fred says eagerly. “Maybe I know her, what’s her name?” 

“Leiko Tomago,” Gogo tells him, surprisingly seeming to brighten slightly. “She’s about my height, has pink streaks in her hair, and always carries around a teddy bear backpack?”

“Oh my gosh, yeah, I totally know her!” Fred beams. “We’re in the anime club together!”

“Nice.” Gogo smiles back at him, nodding approvingly. “She’s said everyone in there’s really nice to her, so it’s good finally getting to meet one of her friends, even if it’s a really random way for us to meet.”

“I take a few art classes at State!” Honey Lemon cries eagerly. “I bet we’ve got some friends in common too!”

“Wow, nice! And we probably do! Are you an art major too?” Fred asks curiously. 

“No, I’m a chemistry major at SFIT, but I also love art so I’m taking advantage of the ‘Two Schools, One City’ credit exchange program,” Honey Lemon explains. “Anything I can do to learn how to make the world a brighter and more beautiful place, y’know?”

“She’s really talented--she has a super successful online boutique,” Tadashi says, both because he was glad to have something positive to talk about and also because he would never miss out on a chance to brag on one of his amazingly talented friends.

“That’s seriously impressive!” Fred grins at her. 

“Thanks!” Honey Lemon giggles, beaming back at him. 

“What kind of clothes do you make?”

“Mostly kawaii and lolita culture outfits, but I’ve really gotten into Disneybounding recently,” Honey Lemon explains. “I also do cosplay commissions!”

“That’s right, I remember when I first met Tadashi he told me that he had a friend named Honey Lemon who taught him how to sew so he could make his Zuko cosplay!”

“Oh, you’ve seen his Zuko?” 

“Yeah, totally! It’s what got me to talk to him in the first place--I figured if this guy was showing up to an event in full Zuko cosplay then we must have something in common!”

“Aww, that’s so sweet!”

“Y’know, Tadashi and I are talking about doing a Buzz and Woody cosplay--do you think maybe you could give me some ideas on making Woody?” 

“That would be super fun!” Honey Lemon cries. “You guys would look so adorable as Woody and Buzz!”

“Right? That’s what I was saying!”

“I’ve always thought that I’d love to do Bo Peep, although if I was going to do her I’d probably want Gogo to do Jessie so we could do a couple’s cosplay…” Honey Lemon says thoughtfully before her eyes suddenly light up. “ _ Oh my gosh. _ What if we all got together and did a group cosplay?!”

“...That sounds fucking amazing!” Fred agrees eagerly. 

“Doesn’t it?! Ooh, we could get the entire team in on it!”

“ _ Yes! _ Oh my gosh, that would be so cool!”

“Somehow I get the feeling I’m being pulled into this like it or not, so sure,” Gogo says wryly.

“I’d be okay with joining this,” Wasabi muses, looking thoughtful. “Halloween’s coming up and Leiko and I have been talking about costume ideas since she was saying she wanted to make us matching costumes this year…”

“Perfect!” Honey Lemon beams at him, and if Gogo minded the idea of her sister and Wasabi in matching costumes she held her tongue, much to Tadashi’s relief--he wanted things to keep heading in a positive direction.

“What about you, Hiro? You and Ezra are going to cosplay with us too, right?” Honey Lemon asks eagerly. 

“I dunno, I don’t really cosplay…” Hiro mumbles. 

“But Hiro, it would be so fun!” Honey Lemon cries. 

“I wouldn’t mind dressing up with you,” Ezra adds, lightly nudging him.

“...I’ll think about it,” Hiro finally relents.

“That’s all that I can ask!” Honey Lemon agrees. 

The rest of the trip back to Fred’s is spent tossing around ideas for which characters Wasabi and Leiko and, yes, Hiro and Ezra could go as since the main four characters had already been claimed. By the time that they pulled into the drive, Tadashi could tell that the others were really starting to accept Fred into the group, something he was incredibly grateful for. 

Once they all pile out of the limo, there was the necessity for a tour since the mansion was admittedly large and easy to get lost in. Fred was a bit embarrassed when they discover the collection of Big Hero 6 merch in his room, but it was Gogo of all people who put his mind at ease.

“At least this is just the normal stuff you find in the stores and at conventions. None of it’s creepy or fetishy, so as long as you don’t have hair samples hidden away somewhere, you’re good.”

“...Hair samples? What the hell, people do that?” Fred cries. 

“We found someone selling hair clippings on an auction site once--still not sure if they were even legit or how they got them if they were real, but Hiro had to hack the site to track them down and destroy the clippings,” Gogo deadpans. “They could have just gone to a really creepy fan, but can you imagine if they’d gotten into the wrong hands and someone tried to clone one of us?” 

“...Oh God, superhero life is a whole lot weirder than I ever imagined it,” Fred whispers. 

“Welcome to what we live with on a daily basis,” Hiro tells him with a wry smile, and Tadashi had to wonder if he just meant that metaphorically, or if maybe he was considering Ezra’s suggestion to let Fred join the team. He didn’t get a chance to ask him then, but later while everyone was in the theater for a Star Wars marathon he manages to get Hiro alone on the pretense of going with him to search the kitchen for gummy bears (a must-have movie snack for the younger Hamada) to ask him.

“I… Definitely need more time to think on it,” Hiro answers after mulling the question over for a few moments. “I mean, you know how long it took before I let Ezra join the team, and that was after he’d been soloing as Dev for a while. I really, really want to trust Fred. And I think I can trust him as a civilian at this point. But as a superhero--he doesn’t have any experience. And the last thing I want is for the guy who’s finally making you smile again getting hurt and you letting that destroy you. Because I know you--if anything happened to him, you’d blame yourself, and I just don’t think that’s a healthy option at the moment.”

“That’s fair,” Tadashi agrees, realizing that Hiro did have a point. 

“Has he been asking you about joining the team? Has he been pressuring you at all about it?” Hiro asks, looking suspicious.

“What? No! He hasn’t even mentioned anything about it!” Tadashi hurries to reassure him. “I just… I know how much he loves superheroes, and how much he loves Big Hero 6 in particular. And if the subject does ever come up, I want to be able to give him an honest answer.”

“Well then, if it ever does come up, you can tell him that I am considering the matter, but when or if I ever decide to greenlight him joining, he’s going to have to go through a lot--and I mean a  _ lot,  _ like boot camp levels--of training before I will even consider letting him go anywhere near being out in the field on missions.”

“I respect that answer, and I thank you for at least considering the possibility.” 

“You’re welcome.” 

Sometimes in moments like this, it hit Tadashi just how grown up Hiro was getting--even though Tadashi’s mind still saw Hiro as a gap-toothed, messy haired kid most days, he was almost eighteen, and especially when he was acting as the Team Leader he sometimes showed a level of maturity that was almost beyond his years.

But then almost two seconds later Hiro discovers the giant stash of sweets in the pantry and starts acting like a little kid in a candy store and Tadashi was able to relax a bit--Hiro was and always would be his baby brother, no matter how grown up and mature he got, and that was a very comforting thought. 

Tadashi almost forgot about their conversation until, much later that night, Fred asks him if he could hang back for a second while Heathcliff was getting ready to drive the others home (they could have gotten rides themselves, but it was just another way Tadashi could tell Fred was trying to get his friends to like him, and he appreciated that he was making such an effort to get himself on good terms with the important people in his life.)

“Hey, what’s up?” Tadashi asks as he joins Fred in the main entryway. “Is everything okay?” 

“Yeah, totally!” Fred agrees before shuffling his feet nervously. “Um… There’s something I want to ask you… Something I’ve wanted to ask you almost since our first date, but I wasn’t sure it would be appropriate to do it until now…”

Tadashi tenses himself, realizing that he was probably going to be dealing with the Big Hero 6 question and glad that he’d already thought to have this conversation with Hiro. 

“D-Do you think you'd want to be my boyfriend? Like, officially?” 

“Wait, what?” That was the last thing that Tadashi had expected, so he was completely caught off guard, his brain quickly trying to play catch-up as it suddenly jumps to an entirely new track. 

“I-I know that we wanted to wait to make things official until we’d gotten to know each other better, and I’m totally okay if you still want to wait on this! I guess I just thought since it’s almost been a full month and now I’ve met your whole team and everything, the timing just felt right--” 

“Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh,  _ fuck  _ yes,” Tadashi breathes, feeling like his entire body was lighting up (and it probably would have been if he hadn’t been wearing his hoodie.) 

“O-Oh! G-Great!” Fred stammers out, beaming at him. 

Tadashi beams back, unable to believe that this was happening--Fred wanted to be his boyfriend, for real!

Somehow Tadashi finds his hands gravitating to Fred’s waist, and Fred’s were settling against the small of his back, the two of them slowly moving closer and closer until they were sharing their first kiss as official boyfriends. 

“I-I kind of have something for you that I thought you might like since we’re making this a real thing,” Fred says with a sheepish smile when he finally pulls away. 

“What? Oh my gosh, Fred, you didn’t have to get me anything!” Tadashi cries, feeling himself blushing deep red and wishing that he’d known this was happening because he would have gotten something for Fred too.

“Oh, no, it’s not like a real gift,” Fred reassures him as he pulls a small piece of paper out of his pocket and handing it to him. “Just something to mark the occasion.”

“It’s… A website address?” Tadashi says uncertainly, looking down at the string of characters. 

“It’s the URL for my AO3 profile,” Fred tells him with an embarrassed grin. “I-I know you were wanting that and I figured if we’re planning to be together long term…” 

The kiss that Tadashi rewarded him with was definitely the stuff that fanfictions were made of. And much later that night, in the privacy of his side of the bedroom with the partition closed, Tadashi was able to finally indulge in reading all of his boyfriend’s most decidedly not-safe-for-work fanfictions. Some of them turned out to be old favorites. Some of them were new to him. All of them were incredibly well written, and they left him wanting more. Which lead to a decision which was stepping slightly out of his comfort zone but which he would in the coming weeks he’d be very, very glad he’d made. 

_ Hey, Fred? _ he texts, hoping that his boyfriend (he still couldn’t believe that Fred was actually his boyfriend!) was still awake.

_ Hey Dashi! What’s up?  _

_ You know how you asked if I’d ever want to try doing a roleplay with you? _

_ Yeah, absolutely!  _

_...Do you want to be Bucky or Steve?  _


	9. Chapter 9

“Tadashi, come on, you’ve been in there for an hour! I want to see what you look like!”

“Fred, I’m putting on armor, you of all people should know that that takes time!” 

“I know… But I still can’t wait to see you!”

“You’re just going to have to be patient.”

“Y’know if you let me help you put it on it would go a lot faster…”

“Nope. It was your idea to surprise each other so now you’re just going to have to wait until I have everything fully on.”

“...But I miss seeing your handsome face?”

“ _ Fred _ .”

“Fine…”

Tadashi could hear Fred’s playful annoyance through the door, but he wasn’t about to back down. He almost had everything on right and he wasn’t going to ruin the surprise. He’d spent far too much time making this costume as detail perfect as possible. Tonight, the night of the Halloween party that Fred was hosting for the entire team, was the night of its debut (as well as the rest of the team’s cosplays’ debuts) so he wanted it to be as much of a surprise as possible. After all, Fred had been pretty tight-lipped about his own Woody costume so fair was only fair, even if they’d both agreed to get ready at Fred’s house. 

“...Are you almost done?” 

“Fred, oh my God, it’s been thirty seconds!”

“Thirty seconds without my gorgeous boyfriend!” 

“Do you really need me that badly?”

“YES. Definitely yes!” 

Tadashi bites his lip and ducks his head even though Fred couldn’t see him blushing. He still couldn’t believe that he had such a sweet boyfriend who was always going over the top to make sure he knew how much he cared about--or, to use Fred’s words, adored--him. But he did. And Fred had never given him any reason to doubt that any of it wasn’t completely sincere and so Tadashi had finally given in and accepted the fact that Fred somehow loved him exactly the way that he was. 

That didn’t mean that his insecurities didn’t crop up every now and then, especially when he was on his own and people would still look at him funny or avoid him. But he was walking with his head a little higher these days, and especially when Fred was with him he could usually ignore the worst of the rude people. And Fred was like a bloodhound when it came to sniffing out his insecurities--the moment that he noticed his mood dipping at all he would immediately start showering him with attention and affection. That didn’t meant that Tadashi didn’t still have rough days. But they were coming a lot fewer and far between. 

“All right, I think I’m ready,” Tadashi finally says, making a few last minute adjustments to his costume. As far as he could tell, it was detail perfect, except for the fact that he had the purple hood down. Fred had made it very clear over the last two months how much he loved playing with Tadashi’s hair, and not even costume accuracy was enough to get him to agree to letting Tadashi cover his hair. (Tadashi got the feeling that if he still wore the hat he’d always used to wear before the fire happened and he’d started wearing his hood up full time Fred definitely would have been taking it off every chance that he could.)

“Good! Come out, I need to see how handsome you look!”

“Come out? I’m pretty sure I already did that a long time ago, Freddy,” Tadashi teases. 

“You know what I mean!” Fred huffs. “Now c’mon, stop teasing me!”

“Okay, okay!” Taking a deep breath, Tadashi finally opens the bathroom door and steps out into Fred’s bedroom. 

“Holy  _ shit _ ,” Fred breathes when he sees Tadashi in full costume for the first time.

“You look pretty amazing yourself,” Tadashi answers, looking Fred up and down--damn, Fred could make Woody look really fucking hot. Tadashi wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about thinking a cartoon cowboy doll looked hot, but considering it was Fred in the costume for the most part he was pretty okay with it. 

“Damn, I’m going to have a hard time keeping my hands off of you tonight,” Fred playfully teases, coming over to wrap his arms around Tadashi’s waist. 

“I have no problem with that, cowboy,” Tadashi answers, tweaking the brim of Fred’s hat. “But it took me forever to get all of this on, so you’re just going to have to wait until the end of the night if you want to take it off of me.” 

“Not fair,” Fred playfully whines, and Tadashi got the feeling that if they weren’t expecting their friends to be arriving any minute neither of them would have had much self control in this situation. Ever since the night of the cosplay ball, they hadn’t gotten anywhere near having sex again (not that Tadashi would have minded if they did, but late one night, tired and with no filter, he’d admitted that part his reasoning behind rushing into sex in the first place was thinking that no one would ever want him that way. While Fred fortunately hadn’t been mad at all about it, he had said that he wanted to wait to have sex until Tadashi was doing it with full confidence in himself, and Tadashi had accepted that condition.) But that didn’t mean that they hadn’t had some incredibly amazing makeout sessions. 

“Master Frederick? You’re guests have arrived,” Heathcliff’s voice carries through the door.

“And I guess that’s the end of that,” Fred sighs before gazing up into Tadashi’s eyes and whispering, “But promise me that you mean it about later tonight?” 

“Count on it,” Tadashi breathes in his ear, and he was rewarded with a quick kiss to the side of his neck that almost made him rethink his policy about keeping the armor on until later. But then Fred was pulling away and heading for the door and he decides that he’ll try to have some self control--for now, at least.

“Hi guys!” Honey Lemon beams and waves at them when they make it to the front entryway. “Oh my gosh, you look so great!”

“Thanks, so do you!” Tadashi answers with a grin. She’d gone with Bo Peep’s classic look instead of the new Toy Story 4 version of her outfit, and he was seriously impressed by how well she was maneuvering in the hoop skirt. 

“Thank you!” Honey Lemon giggles. “And doesn’t Gogo look great?”

“She does!”

“You make a perfect Jessie, Gogo!” Fred adds supportively. 

Gogo just shrugs, her expression not changing from the sour frown that was currently holding on her face. 

“Is something wrong…?”

“She’s just a bit grumpy about Wasabi and Leiko’s costumes,” Honey Lemon whispers.

“What? Why? From the pictures I’ve seen they’re super cute!”

“I think that’s the problem.”

As if on cue, Wasabi and Leiko come into view walking up the front sidewalk, dressed as Ken and Barbie from the third Toy Story movie, with Leiko carrying a baby doll covered in marker “tattoos” that Tadashi could only assume was meant to be Big Baby. 

“Oh… Yeah, the baby doll might be a bit much,” Fred agrees quietly. 

Tadashi personally thought it was cute--he loved that Ken and Barbie had adopted the baby doll in the movie, and there was nothing wrong about Leiko and Wasabi possibly wanting to have kids of their own someday. But then he thought about how he’d feel if Hiro and Ezra were talking about moving out and having kids and he realized maybe it was best to keep his mouth shut. 

“You guys all look super amazing!” Leiko enthuses as she and Wasabi join the group. 

“Thanks,” Gogo grunts, shooting Wasabi (who cowered back just a bit, but who could really blame him?) a death glare. 

“I think that’s about everyone--Hiro and Ezra texted to say they were running a bit late so it’s fine to start without them,” Tadashi says aloud, trying to avoid any fights breaking out. 

“Well… It would probably be best to wait until they get here to start things…” Fred says a bit nervously, clearly trying to avoid any fights too.

“Leiko, have you been working on any fun projects for your classes recently?” Honey Lemon asks brightly, and Tadashi and Fred let out twin sighs of relief as the rest of the group is quickly distracted by the question. 

“Hey guys!” About ten minutes later, a familiar voice calls through the door, interrupting Honey Lemon and Leiko’s discussion of their art classes of SF State. 

“Ezra!” Tadashi beams and turns to open the door. He couldn’t wait to finally get to see Hiro and Ezra’s costumes--they’d been extremely secretive about them, and he was eager to see what they’d come up with. 

“Oh my gosh!” he cries when he opens the door and sees Ezra standing there in jeans and a black t-shirt with a skull on it. “Are you Sid?”

“Yep!” Ezra laughs. “Surprise!”

“That’s super creative! But I thought you and Hiro were going to do matching costumes…?” He wasn’t sure what costume Hiro could have done that would make this a “couple’s” cosplay.

“Oh, we did!” Ezra answers with a slightly mischievous grin before turning and calling, “Hiro? Hiro, c’mon, come on out!”

“No! This is embarrassing!” Tadashi hears Hiro answering from somewhere just out of view.

“No it’s not! Your costume is awesome!”

“I feel like a dork!” 

“C’mon, Hiro, just get it over with already!” Ezra steps back a few paces and pulls Hiro into view.

Tadashi feels his heart skip a beat as he sees Hiro, looking thoroughly embarrassed, wearing blue shorts, a lime green t-shirt, and a red cowboy hat. 

“O-Oh my gosh… Hiro, are you  _ Andy _ ?” 

“Yes,” Hiro groans. “It was Ezra’s idea, okay?” 

“It was an awesome idea!” Ezra answers, kissing him on the cheek. 

“...Holy fuck I totally ship this now…” Tadashi breathes. He’d always been more of an Andy/Hannah (Sid’s little sister) shipper, but at least for Hiro and Ezra’s version he would make an exception for shipping Andy/Sid.

“Goal accomplished, then!” Ezra beams at him. 

“I still feel like this is stupid…” Hiro mumbles.

“Seriously, Hiro, you are freaking  _ adorable _ !” Tadashi cries, scooping Hiro up into a hug.

“Hey, let me go!” Hiro protests. “I’m not adorable, you dork!” 

“Nope! Buzz and Woody never got to hug Andy and tell him how important he was to them so I’m making up for it now!” Tadashi laughs.

“I thought you’d appreciate this.” Ezra chuckles. “That’s why I made sure that Hiro was Andy instead of Sid.”

“...You just bought yourself some major brownie points, Ezra.”

“Good to know, I’ll make sure to cash them in later!” 

“...You are evil, Ezra.” Hiro scowls at his boyfriend. “Using me as a pawn to get favors from my brother?”

“Favors that will benefit that both of us?” 

“...Touche. But let me know when you’re going to be manipulative next time so I can get in on this, okay? If I’d known you were trying to get brownie points from Tadashi I would have played up the cuteness aspect since we both know he’s completely weak for that!”

“Fine, next time I will bring you in on this!”

“Good!”

“You guys do realize I’m right here, right?” Tadashi deadpans. 

“Yep.” Hiro smirks at him. 

“Fine. I take back what I said about you being adorable!”

“Thank you!”

“...Okay and now I feel like I just got even more majorly played.”

“That’s because you did, big bro,” Hiro teases. 

“...Fine. Then be prepared for my revenge.” 

“What revenge?”    
“This.” Tadashi yanks Hiro inside and pushes him towards Honey Lemon. “Honey, look! Isn’t Hiro just  _ too cute _ in his Andy costume?”

“Oh my gosh! He is  _ so adorable _ !” Honey Lemon shrieks, instantly glomping onto him and peppering his cheeks with platonic kisses. 

“No! Tadashi, I made a mistake, call her off!” Hiro cries. 

“Nope! You made your bed, now lie in it!” Tadashi laughs. 

“Isn’t that cruel and unusual punishment?” Fred whispers to Tadashi, looking amused as Hiro goes limp in Honey Lemon’s arms, accepting his fate.

“I’d say it’s fair payback.”

“...Can’t argue with that,” Fred laughs before clapping his hands to get everyone’s attention. “Okay, guys! We’re all here, so let’s go ahead and get this party started finally!”

“Ooh, yay!” Honey Lemon finally lets go of Hiro, who quickly darts back over to Ezra, hiding behind him for protection. 

“This way, everyone!” Fred waves for them to follow him down a hallway which ended in a set of double doors. He pushes them open to reveal a large room (the ballroom where Fred’s parents hosted formal events, Tadashi knew from previous visits to the house) that had been decorated top to bottom in spooky Disney-themed decorations--everything from  _ Nightmare Before Christmas _ , to images of the main classic Disney cast dressed as ghoulish creatures, to  _ The Haunted Mansion _ , and even quite a lot of  _ Toy Story of Terror _ items added in to complement the costume theme.

“Oh my gosh! This looks so great!” Honey Lemon cries.

“It is pretty cool,” Gogo admits with an approving smile. 

“It’s  _ amazing _ ,” Tadashi breathes--he could hardly believe that Fred had managed to put all of this together, he almost felt like he was at  _ Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party  _ at one of the Disney Parks. 

“Thank you!” Fred beams at them, gently squeezing Tadashi’s hand. “I’m so glad you guys like it! There isn’t really a set schedule for tonight, but there are plenty of refreshments if you’re hungry. I was originally thinking we could go trick-or-treating in the house, having the staff dress up and hand out candy at stations throughout the house, but then I realized most of them have kids they needed to take out themselves so I ended up nixing that idea… But don’t worry, there is still plenty of candy, I made all of you baskets with your favorite candies in them!” He waves to a table where each of them had their own personalized plastic pumpkins. 

“Wow, thanks!” Hiro cries, eyes lighting up as he spots his own gummy bear filled one. 

“I figured maybe we can watch some spooky movies later,” Fred continues. “Other than that, feel free to just hang out and do whatever you want!”

As it was about dinner time, everyone went to go fill up their plates with food, and then without really planning it they all ended up pulling folding chairs into a circle to sit together. 

“We should play a party game or something until we’re ready to start the movies!” Honey Lemon suggests as they eat. 

“That could be fun!” Fred agrees, seeming glad for the suggestion. 

“No truth or dare allowed, though!” Tadashi quickly puts in.

“We’ve had to ban that game since  _ some people _ take it a little too far,” he explains for Fred’s benefit. 

“Oh… I mean, yeah, I guess as superheroes with different powers things could escalate quickly,” Fred agrees, nodding in understanding. 

“Trust me--half of the most embarrassing pictures that you’ve seen of us on the internet are probably the results of dares,” Tadashi sighs. “It doesn’t help that Honey Lemon insists on taking pictures of the dares and posting them on an anonymous Instagram account--she says it makes us seem ‘more human’ or something.”

“And it does! Our fans love getting to see us just acting like normal people!” Honey Lemon answers. 

“...I’m not going to start this argument up again, but if we’re going to play a game let’s go ahead and pick one.” 

“Fine! If you won’t allow Truth or Dare--”

“Not budging on that, no.”

“Then how about Two Truths And a Lie?” 

“Hm…” Tadashi considers this and then nods. “Sure. That one can’t get too crazy.”

“Great!” Honey Lemon beams at him. “Do you want to go first?”

“Maybe we should let Fred go first since he is the host--only if he wants to, though,” Tadashi answers. 

“Um...Sure, I’ll go!” Fred answers with a laugh. “Just give me a second to think up my two truths and a lie!” 

“Take all the time you need,” Tadashi reassures him.

“All right, I think I’ve got it!” Fred says after a few minutes in which everyone tried to think of their answers for the game.

“Okay, go for it!” Tadashi tells him.

“All right, here goes! Number one--I’m named after my great-great-great-grandfather. Number two, I had a bearded dragon as a kid who I named “Fredzilla”--I mashed up my name with Godzilla because at five years old for some reason I thought that was the coolest name that you could give a pet. And three, my favorite pokemon is a Growlithe.” 

“Ooh, that’s a tough one!” Honey Lemon giggles. 

“...I think I’m going to have to go with the lizard one,” Hiro finally says. “That sounds too much like something Fred would do which makes me doubt that it’s true.”

“I’m leaning towards the Pokemon one--it’s a little too simple,” Wasabi counters. 

“All right, which one’s the lie?” Gogo asks once everyone’s weighed in. 

“The one about being named after my great-great-great-grandfather. It was only my great-great-grandfather, I’m the fourth with the name of Fred Lee--it skipped a generation with my dad,” Fred answers. 

“Ooh, that was a tricky!” Ezra laughs. 

“Glad that I fooled most of you!” Fred grins at him before turning to Tadashi. “You want to go next?” 

“Sure,” Tadashi agrees. “And I’ve got my two truths and a lie ready already.”

“Cool, go ahead and tell us!”

“All right. My first one is that as a kid I had a plush robot my mom made me who became the basis for Baymax. My second one is that I went to my first Fall Out Boy concert when I was sixteen. And my third one is that I had a major crush on Peter Pan as a kid.”

“Okay, but seriously, what gay guy didn’t have a crush on Peter Pan as a kid?” Fred laughs. “I’m totally saying that that one’s true!”

“I know the answer to this one but I’m not going to say and ruin the round for everyone else,” Hiro says with a smirk. 

“...I’m really hoping that the Baymax one is true because that would be adorable,” Leiko giggles. 

“Anyone other guesses?” Tadashi asks once everyone else has had a chance to make their input. “No? Okay, then in that case--it was the Fall Out Boy one. I’ve never been to one of their concerts. I’ve wanted to, just never had the chance.”

“Yes, I was right!” Hiro grins victoriously.

“Well hey, next time that they have a tour if they come through our city I’ll take you to one of their shows as a date, okay?” Fred tells Tadashi.

“I’d love that!” Tadashi beams at him.

“Hey!” Hiro protests. “I’m an even bigger FOB fan than him, why does he get to go?” 

“Because I’m the one dating Fred?” Tadashi teases. 

“If they come I’ll get you and Ezra tickets if you want, but you’ll be in a different area than us so we can all have privacy,” Fred offers. 

“I agree to your conditions!” Hiro grins at him.

“If you guys are done, I’m ready to go for my turn,” Gogo says, popping her gum.

“Sure, go for it!” Fred tells her. 

“Okay.” Gogo nods. “One, I have a tattoo of raven wings on my back. Two, I once ramped a bike off of a SFIT building while drunk. Three, I have a key to Tadashi’s office and sometimes I sneak in there with Honey Lemon to have sex while he’s in class.”

“...You freaking do  _ what _ ?!” Tadashi cries. 

“You don’t know if that’s a truth of a lie yet.” Gogo smirks at him. 

“That had better be the lie!” Tadashi glares at her, quietly fuming. 

The others all make their guesses, clearly a bit unsure about what the outcome of this would be, although Honey Lemon was noticeably silent throughout the round.

“All right,” Gogo finally says. “The lie is--ramping off a building. It was just a small bridge, but I was so drunk I thought it was a lot higher than it was." 

“Oh my God.” Tadashi puts his head in his hands. “Seriously? You’ve had sex in my office?” 

“To be fair your office is the only one of ours with a door!” Gogo laughs. 

“Still! You could have at least asked!” Tadashi cries. 

“Would you have given us permission?”

“...Maybe!” 

“So my point stands.”

“No it doesn’t!”

“That is seriously unsanitary.” Wasabi makes a face.

“What? Like you and Leiko haven’t done it?” Gogo challenges. 

“Um, no! I would never have sex in somewhere that wasn’t clean, and an office where people work on robots definitely isn’t clean!”

“But you have had sex.” 

“That is not what we’re talking about right now!”

“Uh huh. Sure.” 

“Um, maybe we should keep the game going?” Leiko says, clearly trying to keep any arguments from breaking out.

“I’ll go,” Hiro volunteers. “I’m pretty sure I can top that.” 

“Wait, what?!” Tadashi cries, even as Gogo answers,

“Oh, bring it on!” 

“Fine, I will.” Hiro competitively grins at her. “One--I’ve had alcohol. Two, I have a tattoo that no one knows about. Three, I’m still a virgin.”

Tadashi gapes at Hiro. No. No way. Almost none of those options sounded good. Was Hiro just making this up, or had he really--?

He didn’t even properly hear the others making their guesses, his heart pounding in his ears as he waits for the round to be over. 

“All right,” Hiro says eventually, bringing Tadashi back to the present. “The lie is that I'm a virgin.”

“Holy fuck!” Gogo laughs. “Seriously? Drinking, tattoos, and sex? When the fuck did this all happen?” 

“It was months ago,” Hiro answers with a laugh, and Ezra beside him at least had the grace to look embarrassed. “We were at an SFIT event with Ezra as my date and we managed to sneak some champagne, and after that things got a little hazy but when things came back into focus it turned out that I had a tattoo of a Heartless, of all things, on my back, and Ezra and I were already in bed making out so we figured we might as well just keep going.”

“Oh. My. God,” Tadashi whispers, his head spinning. Hiro had been hinting at the fact that he and Ezra had been having sex for a while, but he’d always done it in such a joking way that Tadashi had never really taken him seriously. But now…

“I-I’m going out for some fresh air,” he finally says, standing up abruptly and heading for the door. 

“Wait, what? Tadashi!” Hiro calls after him, but Tadashi knew he couldn’t stay in that room or else he’d have a breakdown so he just keeps going. If Hiro wanted to talk to him, he’d have to follow him. 

As it turned out, Hiro did follow him, and he managed to catch up to him out in the hallway. 

“Dashi?” Tadashi hears Hiro’s voice and finally comes to a stop when he feels a hand closing around his arm. “Tadashi, what’s going on?”

“Hiro, I… I-I don’t really know what to say right now,” Tadashi finally admits, shaking his head. “I mean… You know I’m not particularly strict on the whole ‘waiting until marriage for sex’ thing, and I don’t mind people over the legal age drinking or getting tattoos. But you were definitely underage on drinking. And instead of coming to me on this, you chose to tell everyone in a game? I-It’s not like I need or want details, but I still feel like I should have realized that this was going on... ” 

“Tadashi…” Hiro sighs, running a hand through his hair. “Look. I know that you care about me, and I appreciate that. But I’m almost an adult now--I’m going to be eighteen in just a few months. And as an adult, I’m going to be doing the things that a lot of adults do. I’m sorry if you’re mad at me, but you’re going to have to get used to the fact that Ezra and I are having sex, like it or not.”

“Hiro, I’m not angry!” Tadashi hurries to reassure him. He takes a moment to collect himself before continuing, “If you and Ezra felt it was the right time for you, well… Then I guess it’s the right time. And even though I’d rather not think about it, I want you to know that you can always come to me with anything if you need to--even if it’s a bit uncomfortable for both of us--and I swear I won’t judge you.”

“Thanks, Dashi. I appreciate that.” Hiro gives him a lopsided smile. 

“Good.” Tadashi lightly ruffles his hair. 

“So… Do you want to go back in?” Hiro asks a bit awkwardly after a moment, clearly not sure how to continue after their conversation.

“Sure,” Tadashi agrees. “Let’s go.” He was glad that Hiro knew that he could come to him with things like this now, but he still wasn’t fully prepared to come to terms with the fact that his little brother was having sex, so he was glad to go back to the game which would hopefully help distract him from thinking about it too much.

“Well, that was certainly enlightening,” Fred says as he and Tadashi lead the way to the theater almost an hour later after the game had finally mercifully ended. “I did not know that Wasabi has an irrational fear of clowns--although specifically only the sad ones for some reason. And then wow, Leiko really surprised me with her confession about that secret hentai manga project that she’s been working on--”

“I am so, so sorry you had to go through that,” Tadashi apologizes for what he was pretty sure was the seventh time that night. “I thought that game would be safe, but clearly none of these guys should be allowed to play any party games whatsoever...”

“I think the phrase you're searching for is, ‘This is why we can’t have nice things’?” Fred jokes.

“The phrase I’m searching for I can’t say because there are preschool toys present,” Tadashi deadpans. 

“...Okay, nice Toy Story reference, but hey, no stealing my lines!” Fred laughs. 

“I know you probably think we’re all a bunch of freaks now, and I totally don’t blame you if you want everyone to leave and never come back at this point…” Tadashi mumbles, still incredibly embarrassed by his friends’ behavior. He was glad that things had worked out with him and Hiro, but he didn’t know how Fred was handling all of this. 

“What? No way!” Fred cries. “This just kind of proved to me how much I want to keep hanging out with you guys!”

“I… What?” Tadashi stares at him in disbelief. “S-Seriously?”

“Yeah!” Fred beams at him. “I mean, I’ll be honest, I still felt a little bit intimidated by everyone until tonight because I was having a hard time separating them from the heroes I see on TV almost every week. But now… Now I feel like they’re a lot more human. And I feel like if they’re comfortable being weird around me then that’s a good sign that they trust me, right?” 

“...I guess you have a point there,” Tadashi admits. He’d never thought of it that way, but Fred did sort of have a point. And if somehow this weirdness had caused his boyfriend to feel closer to the rest of his team? He wasn’t about to complain about that. 

“Besides--you and I both know that neither of us are exactly normal either,” Fred adds playfully. 

“True,” Tadashi agrees with a wry smile.

“I mean, we’re planning some not exactly child friendly activities for later tonight that involve being dressed as Disney characters, right?” Fred adds playfully. 

“Don’t let Hiro catch you talking about them, but yes,” Tadashi answers, lightly nuzzling against him as they walk into the theater together.

“I won’t--trust me, I definitely don’t want to get busted by your little bro before I can get you alone to take all of that armor off of you,” Fred playfully purrs. 

“And I can’t wait for you to do that,” Tadashi answers, shivering slightly at the thought. He still couldn’t quite believe that Fred was so chill about all of this, but who was he to complain? He’d wanted Fred to get closer to his friends, and if Fred could handle them at their most embarrassing and still wanted to be around them then maybe he could stop worrying about things so much. And the fact that Fred was also apparently attracted enough to him to want to indulge in not family friendly activities with him? He was only making the case stronger for Tadashi hoping that he would be sticking around with him for a long, long time. 

Tadashi had lost so much to the fire--peace of mind for being able to go out into public (or even sometimes outside of his own room), the respect of a lot of society and a few so-called friends who ditched him because of how he looked now, and his freedom to live life without constant interruptions by superhero responsibilities. The fact that he finally had someone who wanted to be with him, and him alone, and supported him unwaveringly through all of that meant more than he could ever say. And, as soon as they had privacy after the others left tonight, he very much intended to show Fred exactly how much he appreciated him in a way that he hoped would communicate his feelings even better than feeble words could.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ((TW: Mention of needles under medical circumstances))

“Hey Dashi!”

“Hey Fred!” Tadashi beams as he looks up to see his boyfriend walking into his lab. He’d officially gotten permission for Fred to be able to have access to the Nerd Lab (as people liked to call the large lab at SFIT where many students, including Tadashi and his friends, worked and studied), and he was definitely enjoying the fact that that meant Fred was constantly surprising him with visits. Even though most of the visits consisted of Fred just sitting with him while they both worked on homework and projects, somehow even homework was more enjoyable with Fred there. 

“You busy right now?” Fred asks, pecking Tadashi’s lips before playfully settling himself in his lap. 

“Just finishing up with this paper--it’s almost done, at least,” Tadashi answers, wrapping his arms around his waist and pecking his lips. “You?”

“I finished all my work for today so whenever you’re free I’m free!” Fred replies. 

“Well then, I have just that much more motivation to finish so that we can spend time together,” Tadashi tells him with a grin. “Think you can behave for long enough for me to do finish here? I’m just editing and then submitting this, shouldn’t be more than half an hour.”

“Hm… Do I get some sort of reward if I behave?” Fred asks teasingly. 

“You get me for whatever you want for the rest of the night since my Wednesday class was cancelled and Thanksgiving vacation starts for me tonight,” Tadashi purrs. 

“Well, with a reward like that I’ll definitely behave since I don’t have classes tomorrow either!” Fred beams and kisses the tip of Tadashi’s nose before obediently going to sit on the couch so he’d stay out of trouble. 

“All right, and that is done so we’re free!” Tadashi says when, as promised, he finishes and submits his paper almost exactly half an hour later.

“Yay!” Fred eagerly jumps up from the couch and wraps his arms around Tadashi. “Now I get my reward since I behaved, right?” 

“Oh, you behaved perfectly, so you are definitely getting your reward,” Tadashi chuckles. “What is it that you want?” 

“To get to kidnap you back to my place for movies and cuddling?” Fred answers hopefully. 

“In that case your wish is my command.” Tadashi grins at him--how did Fred always know the perfect thing to say?

“Great!” Fred beams back, squeezing his hand. 

“Want me to drive?” Tadashi offers, grabbing the keys to his moped.

“I would love that!” Fred answers with a grin. As nice as the limo was, somehow Fred had managed to finally convince Heathcliff to let Tadashi drive them places sometimes. They both greatly enjoyed those rides, Tadashi especially liking the feeling of Fred cozily pressed up against his back as he held onto him.

They made it all the way to Fred’s house and were halfway through  _ Frozen  _ (it seemed like a fun movie to blow off some stress, plus it had a bit of a holiday feel without being too Christmassy yet) when Tadashi suddenly remembered something his aunt had told him on the way out the door this morning to ask Fred.

“Oh my gosh!” Tadashi jerks upright from where he’d been contentedly snuggled against Fred’s chest. 

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Fred asks with a frown of concern. 

“Nothing’s wrong!” Tadashi reassures him. “I just remembered something! Aunt Cass wanted me to ask if you had any plans for Thanksgiving? I know that you mentioned that you weren’t sure if your parents weren’t going to be in town this year.”

“Well, my mom’s not going to make it, but my dad said that he thinks he is going to make it,” Fred answers, glancing curiously over at him. “Why?”

“In that case, Aunt Cass wanted me to invite you and whatever family members you’re going to have home to Thanksgiving dinner,” Tadashi answers. “Y-You definitely don’t have to say yes if you don’t want to! But ever since Hiro’s started dating Ezra, we’ve been doing a joint Thanksgiving dinner with Ezra’s family, and since we’re dating now she said she wanted to make sure you know that your family’s welcome as well if they want to come.”

“Wow, that sounds really awesome!” Fred beams at him. “I’d have to check with my dad, but usually we don’t do anything too fancy here so I don’t see why that would be a problem! Let me just call him really quick to see if he’d be okay with it.”

“Sounds good!” Tadashi agrees, contentedly settling against Fred as he pulls out his phone to make the call. 

There was a brief silence in which Tadashi held his breath to see if Fred’s dad would answer. And then Fred started talking so he could only assume that he had picked up. 

“Hey, Dad? ...Hey, yeah, good to hear from you too, I hope it’s not too late over there! ...Oh, early, sorry! ...Yeah, definitely glad to hear that you made it to the airport okay! And I’m glad that I caught you before you got on the plane! ...No, nothing too serious, but there was something I wanted to ask you about Thanksgiving. Tadashi’s aunt invited us to come to their dinner since Hiro’s boyfriend’s family is joining them as well, and I just wanted to see if you’d be interested in that? ...Uh huh. ...Uh huh. ...Sure, I can definitely text you her number so you can coordinate! ...Awesome, see you when your flight lands! Love you, Dad!”

“So I’m guessing that went well?” Tadashi asks hopefully as Fred hangs up. 

“Really well!” Fred answers. “He’s going to talk to your aunt, but he volunteered to host the dinner here if she’s okay with that since there’s going to be so many people and we have plenty of space!” 

“Oh, wow, that’s super generous of him!” Tadashi grins at him. “I’ll have to see what Aunt Cass says but I definitely don’t think she’d have a problem with that, especially since Ezra has a really big family. I hope your dad doesn’t mind little kids, though, the Jarruses have a three-year-old, Jacen, and a new baby, Dawn.” 

“I think he’ll be fine with that, and our cook, Marie, always spends the holidays with us and she absolutely adores little kids,” Fred reassures him. 

“Great!” Tadashi beams at him. “I can’t believe that we’re going to be spending our first Thanksgiving together, it’s going to be great!” 

“Definitely!” Fred agrees, happily pecking him on the cheek.

Come the actual day of Thanksgiving, Tadashi wasn’t quite as enthusiastic about the prospect of sharing Thanksgiving with Fred’s family. It’s true that it was only going to be Fred’s dad at the dinner, but Fred’s dad was the family member that Fred was closest to, and this was the first time that he was going to meet him in person. He was terrified of what would happen if, for some horrible reason, Fred’s dad didn’t approve of him. How was he supposed to ask Fred to choose between him and family?

“Tadashi, you’ve been fiddling with your tie for an hour, I’m sure you’ve got it perfect by now,” Hiro drawls from where he was lying on his bed texting Ezra.

“I just want to look like someone Fred’s dad will approve of,” Tadashi sighs, finally leaving off trying to fix his outfit anymore in the mirror. 

“Tadashi. Seriously. You have nothing to worry about.” Hiro looks up from his phone. “Fred is crazy about you so I’m sure he’s already majorly talked you up to his dad. And teachers and parents have always fawned over you without you even having to try, so you’ve got a lot going for you!”

“Thanks, Hiro.” Tadashi gives him a grateful smile.

“Plus I will punch him if he’s rude to you,” Hiro adds flatly. 

“What? No, no punching anyone!” Tadashi cries, mortified. 

“I stand by what I said,” Hiro answers, looking back down at his phone. 

Great. So now Tadashi had to worry about Fred’s dad liking him  _ and _ trying to keep Hiro from committing acts of violence during the dinner. Why was this starting to feel like one of those corny holiday movies where everything went absolutely wrong?

“Hiro, Tadashi, our ride is here!” Aunt Cass calls from the bottom of the stairs. “Let’s go!”

Hiro hops off the bed and heads down the stairs, and Tadashi follows after him, praying that somehow this wouldn’t go wrong. 

Fred’s dad had sent Heathcliff to pick everyone up so that they didn’t have to worry about driving themselves, and Heathcliff had picked up Ezra’s family first so almost as soon as they reached the limo Hiro was hurrying over to wedge himself in next to Ezra, and within seconds they were all wrapped around each other.

“Wow. It’s almost like you two didn’t see each other last night and weren’t texting all day,” Sabine, Ezra’s older sister, deadpans. 

“Hey, Bean,” Tadashi says, sharing a knowing smile with her--as the eldest siblings in their families, they worked together to keep an eye on their younger brothers, even if they had slightly different ideas about what was best for them sometimes. 

“Hey Dashi,” Sabine answers, nodding to him. 

“Tadashi!” Tadashi grins as he feels a tiny hand tugging on his sleeve, and he allows himself to be pulled down next to Jacen. 

“Jacen, how are you doing?” he asks the toddler with a warm smile--he couldn’t help it, he had a weakness for cute kids and for some reason they all seemed to adore him. 

“Good!” Jacen answers eagerly. “I’ve been helping Mommy in the kitchen!” 

“Oh have you?” Tadashi grins over at Ezra’s mom, Hera. 

“Yes, he’s been a big help,” Hera laughs, her eyes sparkling. 

“Oh my gosh, is that Dawn?” Tadashi asks, spotting the blanket wrapped baby in her arms. 

“Yes, it is--do you want to hold her?” Hera offers.

“Could I?” Tadashi asks hopefully. 

“Of course!” Hera holds Dawn out to him, and Tadashi very carefully takes her in his arms. 

“Hi, sweetie,” Tadashi coos, holding her close to his chest. “Oh my goodness, you’re getting so big!” 

“She’s almost three months,” Hera says with a smile. 

“Three months? I can’t believe she’s that old already!”

“I know, time flies by,” Ezra’s dad, Kanan chuckles. 

“I’m going to be four soon!” Jacen says importantly, tugging on Tadashi’s sleeve for attention. 

“That’s great! I’m sure you’re going to get big and tall, just like your big brother,” Tadashi tells him. True, Ezra and Jacen weren’t blood related--most of the Jarrus family wasn’t, Ezra and Sabine were adopted by Kanan and Hera, and Zeb and Alex Orrelios, the married “uncles” of the family, weren’t even connected by adoption, Zeb was just an old friend of Hera and Kanan’s. But they were family in everything but blood, and Tadashi knew that Jacen wanted to be just like his older brother when he grew up. 

The rest of the ride passed fairly peacefully--Tadashi was kept busy with the kids and catching up with Ezra’s family, so it wasn’t until they pulled into the mansion’s driveway that his nerves started to act up again. 

“Whoa,” Kanan says, his eyebrows raising as they step out of the car, not seeming to be the only one who was slightly intimidated by the grandeur. “This is a lot fancier than I expected… I feel like maybe I should have dressed up more…”

“Well, we’re here and we were invited, so we might as well go in!” Aunt Cass answers, taking the initiative and heading for the front door.

“Hey!” Before they could even fully reach the door, Fred came bursting out of it, racing over to greet them and looking very much like an overly excited puppy. “I’m so glad you guys all came! This is going to be the best Thanksgiving ever!” 

Tadashi beams and, momentarily forgetting his nervousness, pecks Fred on the cheek before quickly starting the round of introductions. 

“C’mon, everyone come inside,” Fred says once he’s said hello to everyone. “My dad’s waiting in the sitting room to greet you--he said it’s more ‘dignified’, but to hell with dignity!” 

He laughs, only for his eyes to go wide as he glances down at Jacen. “Oh, shoot, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be cursing--!” 

“It’s fine,” Hera reassures him wryly. “Jacen hears worse from his Uncle Zeb on a daily basis so no need to apologize.”

“O-Oh, okay…?” Fred slowly agrees. Still, he looked relieved to have the excuse of leading the way into the house to leave the awkwardness behind him. 

“You okay?” he asks, glancing over at Tadashi as they walk arm-in-arm, seeming to notice how quiet his boyfriend was being. 

“I just really, really don’t want to mess this up,” Tadashi admits, pressing a bit closer against Fred’s side. “I want your dad to to approve of me so we can keep dating…”

“Whoa, Dashi, even if he didn’t, there’s no way that I’d stop dating you!” Fred reassures him. “But he’d have to be crazy not to like you so don’t even waste another second worrying, okay?”

“Okay…” Tadashi nods, not sure that he fully believed him but trying to hope for the best. 

“Dad?” Fred says once they reach a little parlor just off the main entryway. “Dad, I’d like you to meet my boyfriend, Tadashi.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir,” Tadashi says politely, trying to sound more confident than he felt as the man he could only assume was Fred’s father stands up from a chair that was facing away from the door. 

“I’m quite glad to be finally meeting you as well,” Fred’s father answers, turning around to greet him, and in an instant Tadashi felt his blood going cold. No way. No way. There was no possible way that this could be happening! And yet--

_ “Ow…” Tadashi groans as he blinks his eyes open, a bright light shining in his eyes and a raging pain in the back of his head. The last thing he remembered was a goon getting in a lucky punch and then…. Nothing.  _

_ “You’ll not want to move around too much, you’re recovering from a mild concussion.”  _

_ Tadashi starts to jerk up at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, only to feel strong hands pushing him back down onto the cot that he was apparently lying on.  _

_ “W-Who are you?” Tadashi manages to get out. “And where am I?”  _

_ “It’s all right, son.” The bright light overhead turns off and a man’s face, slightly blurred by Tadashi’s unfocused vision, comes into view. “Your team allowed me to bring you here to look you over before sending you home. That nursebot of yours is a genius invention, but considering you were helping me out with that Baron Von Destructix case I wouldn’t have felt right if I hadn’t done my part to make sure you were alright.” _

_ “Y-You’re Magnet Man,” Tadashi gasps, finally registering the superhero suit that the older man was wearing.  _

_ “Yes, yes I am,” he chuckles.  _

_ “A-And you’re not wearing your mask!” Tadashi hurriedly looks away, determined not to see anything more than he’d already seen. Magnet Man was a legendary superhero known the world over. It had been a huge honor for the team when he’d reached out to them and asked them to assist him with a mission. Seeing him without his mask on was a huge breach of privacy.  _

_ “It’s all right.” Tadashi feels a hand on his shoulder. “I thought it was only right for you to see me without my mask on since I’m seeing you without yours.” _

_ “I-I guess…” Tadashi says a bit uncertainly, still determined not to look up.  _

_ “I think you’ll make a full recovery,” Magnet Man continues when it was clear that Tadashi wasn’t going to meet his gaze. “I wanted to make sure that you were coherent when you woke up, but since you are I’m going to go ahead and return you to your teammates--your team leader especially seemed very worried about you. I’m sorry that I can’t show you the way out of here, but you understand that for privacy reasons I can’t let you know where my base is.” _

_ “O-Of course!” Tadashi reassures him. “I-I would never expect to invade your privacy like that.” _

_ “All right then. I trust that we’ll get the chance to work together again soon in the future.” _

_ Tadashi suddenly felt something sharp pricking his arm, and then the world went black. _

After waking up he didn’t know how much later, being carried home by Baymax, Tadashi hadn’t seen or heard anything from the legendary hero. He’d sent them some very nice tech as a thank you for their help, but that had been the extent of it. But now here Tadashi was, standing face to face with Fred’s dad, and even though his memories were a bit fuzzy, there was no doubt in his mind that the man that he was looking at was Magnet Man. And if that wasn’t proof enough, the look in the other man’s eyes made it entirely clear that he knew who he was as well.


	11. Chapter 11

“Tadashi? Tadashi, are you okay?” Fred whispers, gently nudging his side. 

“U-Um, y-yeah, sorry, I’m fine!” Tadashi answers, finally snapping out of his daze and, trying not to let on just how freaked out he was, he manages to shake the hand that Fred’s father offered him. “I-It’s very nice to meet you, sir?” 

How was he supposed to do this? Did he let on that he knew who Fred’s dad was and that they’d met before? Wait, did Fred know who his dad was, really? Somehow Tadashi doubted it, but maybe he was wrong?

“Yes, I believe you said that before,” Fred’s father answers with just a hint of amusement in his voice. “But I am very glad that we’re finally getting to officially meet in person. Fred’s told me a lot about you, and he’s sent me pictures, but it’s not quite the same as seeing each other face to face.”

“N-No sir, it’s not,” Tadashi agrees a bit nervously. 

“Still, even without our meeting before now, I had a very strong feeling that you’d be good for Fred--someone who’d look out for him and keep him safe,” Fred’s dad continues with a smile, and suddenly the reason for why he had started allowing Tadashi to drive Fred places (as well as slackening a few other safety rules) became clear. Fred’s dad knew that his son was dating Sunfire, and apparently he respected Tadashi’s abilities enough to trust him to make sure that Fred stayed safe. Tadashi wasn’t sure exactly what dangers Fred might be in with his dad being a superhero, but suddenly Tadashi felt just that much more committed to making sure that he stayed safe. 

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir,” Tadashi answers, smiling gratefully back. 

“Enough of the ‘sir’s’,” Fred’s father chuckles. “Most people just call me Stan, or Mr. Lee if they want to be more formal, but you can call me whatever you’re comfortable with.”

“Mr. Lee it is,” Tadashi agrees, feeling himself relaxing slightly. 

“What was that all about?” Fred whispers to Tadashi, looking slightly confused as Mr. Lee moves on to greeting the rest of his guests.

“I-I don’t know,” Tadashi lies, feeling horrible for keeping the truth from Fred but also knowing that he needed to respect another super’s privacy until he was told otherwise.

“Okay…” Fred frowns for a moment before brightening and adding, “Well, whatever that was, he seemed to like you!”

“He did?” Tadashi asks hopefully. 

“He did,” Fred confirms with a smile. 

“I’m really, really glad to hear that,” Tadashi admits with a relieved sigh. Maybe things wouldn’t be so awkward after all.   
The afternoon continued fairly normally after that. Aunt Cass, Ezra’s Uncle Alex, and Marie all holed up in the kitchen together to work on dinner, but there was plenty of talking and laughing coming from there so it was clear that they were having a good time. Everyone else mostly just hung out in the sitting room, talking and visiting. Fred absolutely loved Ezra’s family, and it was clear that they liked him as well. It turned out that he knew Sabine from the art department at SF State, and Jacen in particular seemed thrilled to have a new playmate. Hera gently scolded him not to monopolize Fred’s attention, but neither Fred nor Tadashi minded playing with him since he was so adorable.

It was in the middle of Fred and Jacen playing a particularly lively game of superheroes that Tadashi suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. 

“Tadashi, a word, if I may?” Mr. Lee says as he turns around to see him standing behind him. 

“O-Of course!” Tadashi answers, glancing over to make sure that Fred was fully occupied before following after him out into the hall. 

“So--I believe we’ve met before now, haven’t we?” Mr. Lee says once they’re a little ways from the others.

“Yes, I definitely think so,” Tadashi agrees a bit nervously, not really sure how this was going to go.

“Sunfire, correct?” Mr. Lee asks with a smile. 

“That’s what the news likes to call me, yeah,” Tadashi agrees, allowing himself to relax slightly since Mr. Lee seemed to be keeping this informal. 

“I thought so.” Mr. Lee nods. “I do try to respect other supers’ privacy, but I couldn’t help but see your face when you were injured and your fire went out. You can imagine my surprise the first time Fred sent me a picture of the two of you together!”

“D-Do you mind that Fred’s dating a superhero?” Tadashi asks tentatively. 

“Heavens no.” Mr. Lee shakes his head. “It’s a bit of a relief knowing that there’s someone else looking out for him now. As you can probably imagine, I’ve made some pretty powerful enemies over the years, and while I try to have Heathcliff watching Fred as much as I can, he can’t go with him everywhere. Knowing that you’re with him most of the time when he’s not at home gives me more peace of mind than I’ve had in years.”

“Can I ask if Fred knows who you are--y’know, on the superhero side of things?” Tadashi hedges, hoping that he wasn’t going into territory he shouldn’t be asking about. 

“No, he doesn’t,” Mr. Lee sighs. “I’ve considered telling him more times than I can count, but I’ve always feared that I’d be putting him even further at risk by telling him. You know how he is--he loves superheroes, and I fear that if he knew the truth he’d get himself involved in things that might put him in even more danger than he is now.”

“I think you should give Fred a bit more credit than that,” Tadashi says with a small frown. “He’s known about me being Sunfire almost since our first date, and he’s never done anything reckless because of it.”

“He knows?” Mr. Lee looks at him in surprise. 

“I didn’t mean for him to find out, but he did, and it’s the best thing that could have happened to me,” Tadashi answers firmly. “I was so afraid of anyone outside of my team finding out about my powers, and I was terrified of hurting anyone I got too close to. But when I accidentally lost control, he helped me realize that I was a lot more in control than I thought, and my life has been so much better and happier since I’ve met him.” 

“I see.” Mr. Lee nods thoughtfully. “I… Will certainly keep that in mind.”

“I know that you want to protect him, but I think he deserves to know who his dad really is,” Tadashi says, making one last effort to try to advocate for his boyfriend. “If my parents were still alive and they were superheroes, I’d want to know so that if anything ever happened to them… I-I’d rather find out from them than find out about it on the nightly news with everyone else, y’know?”

“Hey guys!” 

Tadashi stiffens when he hears Fred’s voice coming from behind him--shit, he hadn’t heard him coming! Had he just ruined everything? Even if he felt Mr. Lee should tell his son the truth, he didn’t want to out another super!

“What are you doing out here?” Fred asks curiously as he joins them, looking back and forth between the two of them. “Is everything okay?” 

Tadashi bites his lip worriedly, not sure what he was supposed to say. Mr. Lee looks pensive for a moment before suddenly saying, “There’s something I need to show the both of you” and turning to walk down the hallway. 

“Um… Okay?” Fred shrugs and follows after him, glancing over at Tadashi and asking softly, “Any idea what’s going on?” 

Tadashi shrugs uncomfortably, not really sure what was happening either but hoping he wasn’t about to get kicked out for going too far.

Mr. Lee finally comes to a stop in front of a large painting of his family that was hanging on the wall. 

“Uh… Dad? What exactly are we doing?” Fred asks, sounding as confused as Tadashi felt. 

“There’s something that I need to tell you, Fred,” Mr. Lee answers. “It wasn't until after I met Tadashi--or, should I say, Sunfire--today that I realized it was finally time to trust you with the truth.”

“Wait you told him?!” Fred gapes at Tadashi in astonishment and maybe just the tiniest bit of accusation.

“I didn’t tell him,” Tadashi answers, shaking his head and realizing what this conversation was leading up to. “He already knew…”

“How could he possibly know-- Holy shit!” Whatever Fred was about to say was cut off as the Mr. Lee presses what turned out to be a hidden panel on the wall, causing a large segment of the wall to swing open like a door. 

“Dad… What is that?” Fred slowly asks. 

“Something I should have shown you a long time ago,” Mr. Lee answers with a soft smile, gently ushering Fred forward. Tadashi wasn’t sure if he was supposed to follow or not, but he couldn’t resist when he saw all of the superhero gear hanging on the walls--wait, was this one of Magnet Man’s hideouts?

“Whoa…” Fred breathes, looking around at everything in awe. “This is seriously, seriously cool… But what exactly is all of this? Is this… A collection of Magnet Man props? Oh my gosh, are you into cosplay and you just never told me?!”

“Fred, these aren’t reproductions,” Mr. Lee answers gently, putting a hand on Fred’s shoulder. “I  _ am _ Magnet Man.”

“I… What? No. No way.” Fred backs up a few paces, shaking his head. “Y-You’re serious right now?”

“Very.” 

“The reason he knew I’m Sunfire is because he once helped patch me up after a fight--I got knocked out and he brought me back to his base to make sure I was okay before sending me home,” Tadashi explains. “I-I didn’t know who he was until today, though! I’d seen his face, but I had no idea he was your dad until I saw him for the first time.”

“This… Is a lot to process,” Fred slowly admits. 

“I know,” Mr. Lee agrees. “It is a lot to throw on you so suddenly, and I understand if you’re upset--”

“Upset? What, no, I’m definitely not upset!” Fred cries. “It’s just going to take a second for my brain to catch up on all of this so give me a minute while it does that…”

“Oh, of course!” Mr. Lee smiles at him. “Take all the time that you need.” 

“So… You’re Magnet Man. You’re freaking Magnet Man!” Fred shakes his head, but his eyes were starting to light up with excitement. 

“Yes, yes I am,” Mr. Lee chuckles softly. “I’m hoping that you’re not disappointed?” 

“Are you kidding me? This is awesome! I can’t believe that my dad is really a superhero!” Fred cries, wrapping his arms around him in a tight hug. “I have so, so many questions for you!” 

“I can imagine,” Mr. Lee laughs, hugging him back. “But first there’s something more that I want to show you.” 

“There’s more? How on earth can there be more?” Fred asks, and even Tadashi was a bit caught off guard by that. 

“Well, this is only the door to where the magic really happens,” Mr. Lee answers, pulling what almost looked like a garage opener on a keyring out of his pocket and pressing the button on it. Almost moments later the floor at the far end of the room opens up, revealing a staircase leading downwards into some sort of underground room. 

“Ohmygosh. You have an underground lair?!” Fred gasps.

“Not a lair, exactly--more of a base of operations,” Mr. Lee replies, his eyes sparkling as he starts to walk down the stairs. “Come on, this way.”

Fred eagerly follows after him and, not having been disinvited so far, Tadashi trails behind them. 

“This. Is. So.  _ Awesome _ ,” Fred breathes as he stares around in wonder at the underground compound, and Tadashi definitely had to agree.

“It’s a lot cooler to look at when my vision isn’t super blurry,” Tadashi observes.

“I imagine it is,” Mr. Lee says with an amused smile.

“I seriously don’t know how I didn’t know this was under our house this entire time,” Fred admits. 

“Well, I did have a lot of help from Heathcliff keeping you distracted at key moments,” Mr. Lee answers. 

“Wait! Heathcliff is in on this? Oh my gosh. I-Is he a superhero too?” Fred asks. 

“No, he’s not--but he is an invaluable assistant in what I do,” Mr. Lee explains. “He helps me with some missions as needed, but mostly he makes sure that things here are running smoothly--and makes sure that none of my enemies ever find out about or come close to you.” 

“Oh… I guess that’s the reason why I haven’t known about any of this until now?” Fred asks softly. 

“Yes, that’s exactly why,” Mr. Lee gently agrees. “I’ve wanted to tell you so many times, but I just couldn’t live with myself if I let you get injured because I was careless.” 

“That makes sense.” Fred nods but Tadashi could clearly see on his face that something was bothering him. He didn’t say anything as the rest of the tour of the underground base continues, but when they eventually head back upstairs to keep anyone from coming to look for them, he manages to pull Fred off to the side while Mr. Lee goes back to the others to play host. 

“Hey,” Tadashi says softly, taking his hand in his own. “Are you okay?” 

“Okay? Sure, yeah, I’m terrific!” Fred replies with what was clearly a forced smile. “Why wouldn’t I be? I mean, I just found out that my dad’s one of my greatest heroes! Who wouldn’t be excited about that?” 

“I want to believe you, but I can tell there’s something bothering you,” Tadashi answers, frowning and tilting Fred’s chin up with his hand when he fails to meet his gaze. “Fred, come on. You’ve been there for me through so many things. I’d be a horrible, horrible boyfriend if I wasn’t there for you when you’re clearly dealing with something. ...Is this about the fact that your dad kept all of this a secret from you?” 

“The secret doesn’t bother me,” Fred finally tells him, shaking his head and still avoiding his eyes. “Believe me, I’ve read enough superhero comics to know why a superhero would keep need to keep their identity a secret. I mean, hell, I’m dating a superhero, I should be used to this by now!” 

“Just because you think you should be doesn’t mean that you are, and it’s okay if you’re not,” Tadashi tells him softly. 

“I-It’s not the secrecy… It’s the reason  _ why _ he had to keep it a secret from me.” Fred finally looks at him, and Tadashi felt a pang in his heart when he realized that there were tears in Fred’s eyes. “I’m surrounded by superheroes every day of my life, Dashi! At this point it feels like just about everyone I know is either a superhero or is connected with a superhero. And that should be a dream come true for me, right? But the truth is… I-I’m just collateral damage, right? The only thing I’m good for is to be used as hostage or bait by the bad guys. Everyone thinks that I’m too weak to take care of myself, and the horrible thing is that they’re right. I-I always dreamed of being a hero, but it turns out I’m just the side character who has to be saved…”

“Whoa whoa whoa, back up!” Tadashi cries, putting his hands on Fred’s shoulders. “That is so not true!”

“But it is, isn’t it?” Fred answers with a caustic laugh. 

“No, it’s not,” Tadashi answers firmly. He wasn’t about to leave Fred feeling like this. “It’s true that you don’t have powers or tech or a super suit. And maybe it would be a good idea for you to learn some self defence, which I’m more than happy to teach you if you want--I’m a black belt in karate, and I’ve taught Hiro everything that he knows. But even without any of that, you are still a hero.”

“How the hell am I a hero?” Fred asks, looking so lost that Tadashi has to wrap his arms around him and pull him close.

“You’re  _ my _ hero,” Tadashi answers softly. “I wouldn’t be here without you. When I met you, I’d given up on myself, and I’d just about given up on life. I didn’t know how I was supposed to keep going when I was terrified to ever get close to anyone because I thought I’d burn them if they did. I felt like I was a freak, and I was trapped in a life I didn’t want. But then I met you, and you helped me see myself in a way I hadn’t in a very, very long time. You told me that I was amazing just the way I was, and you were willing to risk getting hurt just to prove to me that you weren’t afraid of me. E-Ever since meeting you, I’ve started living life again, not just trying to survive each day. You saved my life. You believed in me when I couldn’t believe in myself, and now I’m going to believe in you until you’re able to see just how amazing you are too.”

Tadashi felt Fred’s hands tightening their grip in the fabric of his shirt, and then he felt hot, wet tears against his neck where Fred’s face was currently buried. He wasn’t sure if this was a good sign or a bad sign, but he pulls Fred closer, determined not to let go of him.

“Thank you, Dashi,” Fred finally says, his voice muffled. “I-I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“I don’t know what I’d do without you either so we’re even,” Tadashi answers with a soft chuckle, using one hand to gently stroke Fred’s hair while the other one held him against him. 

“I love you,” Fred finally says softly when he pulls away from Tadashi, his face red and blotchy from crying but some of the old light having returned to his eyes. 

“I love you too,” Tadashi answers, his now free hand curling around Fred’s. “And I’m never, ever going to stop loving you.” 

“I’m never going to stop loving you either.” Fred tentatively kisses his cheek, and Tadashi responds by taking him by the back of the neck and pulling him into a proper kiss. 

He wasn’t sure how long they stayed there like that, just getting lost in each other, but by the time that they finally agreed that they needed to go back to the others, Tadashi could tell that Fred was feeling a lot more confident in himself again.

“I-I know this is probably super corny,” Fred says as they walk back to the sitting room, hand in hand, “but considering it’s Thanksgiving, I think that the thing I’m most grateful for this year is you…”

“That’s not corny at all,” Tadashi reassures him with a warm smile, squeezing his hand. “Actually, I was just about to say the same thing about you.”


	12. Chapter 12

“Dashi?” 

“Yes?” 

“ _ Dashi.” _

“ _ What _ ?"

“I swear to God if you do not stop humming ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ I will fucking glue your laptop shut!”

“Hey, it’s a cute song!” Tadashi protests, frowning over at Hiro from where he was finishing wrapping up Fred’s Christmas present. 

“It’s not cute when you’ve been humming it for the past hour!” Hiro cries. 

“...Shit, sorry, I didn’t realize I’d been doing it for that long,” Tadashi apologizes. “I’ll stop.”

“Thank you.” Hiro sighs before getting up from the couch in the garage where he’d been watching Tadashi work for the past half an hour. “You need any help carrying that thing up to the living room? I’m guessing it’s pretty heavy.”

“Not as heavy as it looks, but thanks, that would be really helpful,” Tadashi answers with a smile as Hiro comes over to help him lift the box.

“This is pretty up to the last minute for you,” Hiro comments as they work together to carry the box up the stairs to the Christmas tree in the living room. “Usually you have this stuff done before December even arrives.”

“I know, but I was stuck on what to make Fred, and then when I finally got the idea I was rushing to get it done in time.”

“At least you’d used similar tech before!”

“Yeah, that definitely helped a lot, although I had to adjust for the right shape, and Honey Lemon had to help me with the fabric parts.”

“Well hey, I’m sure Fred’s going to love it!” Hiro laughs as they carefully settle the present under the tree. “You know I’m still jealous that you get to have your boyfriend here for Christmas and I don’t.” 

“To be fair, Ezra’s family is home for Christmas, and Fred’s dad got stuck in Japan thanks to that freak blizzard so if Fred wasn’t coming here he’d be all alone for the holiday,” Tadashi points out. 

“...Touche. Still saying it’s not fair.” 

“Believe whatever you want,” Tadashi sighs, playfully rolling his eyes. 

“So when’s he supposed to get here again?” Hiro asks.

“Probably any minute now--that’s why I was panicking trying to get all of this done in time,” Tadashi answers. “Fortunately I finished just in the nick of time.”

“Am I allowed to guess what you made for me this year?” Hiro teases.

“Nope!” Tadashi laughs. “You know that’s not allowed!” 

“But Dashi…” Hiro pouts at him. 

“And you definitely know that puppy eyes aren’t allowed!” 

“Fine…” Hiro crosses his arms over his chest. “But what are we going to do until he gets here? Just sitting around is boring…”

“We can go make some cocoa?” Tadashi suggests. 

“...All right, I’ll bite,” Hiro agrees before heading towards the kitchen. “But only because our Christmas Eve Christmas movie marathon would suck without cocoa.”

“I completely and totally agree!” Tadashi laughs, following after him.

They’d just about finished with the cocoa when the doorbell rings.

“Oh my gosh that’s him!” Tadashi cries, almost spilling the pot of cocoa that he’d just pulled off of the burner. 

“Give me that before you dump it and waste all of our hard work!” Hiro pulls it out of his hands. “I’ll pour, you go let your boyfriend in.”

“Thanks Hiro!” Tadashi gives him a grateful grin before racing over to the door.

“Fred!” Tadashi cries as soon as he has the door open.

“Dashi!” Fred happily wraps his arms around Tadashi in a tight hug. “Thanks again for letting me spend Christmas with you guys!” 

“Of course!” Tadashi pecks him on the cheek. “We wouldn’t let you have Christmas all alone. That’s not what family does.” 

“Well I’m still super grateful to you guys,” Fred answers, pecking him back.

“I get it, you two love each other! Now get inside and close the door before you let all the warm air out!” Hiro calls from the kitchen. 

“Right, sorry!” Fred apologizes with an embarrassed laugh. 

“You need help carrying anything in?” Tadashi asks, finally letting him go. 

“Nah, I think I’m good,” Fred reassures him. 

“Well… Okay then.” Tadashi hovers uncertainly. “In that case, I guess I can show you to the guest bedroom? We’ve got it all set up for you.”

“Thank you--you guys seriously didn’t have to go for this much trouble for me!”

“Well we want you to be comfortable!”

“Still, I appreciate it!” 

Tadashi beams as Fred pecks his cheek on the way to guest bedroom. 

“All right, so, let’s get this party started!” Hiro says once Fred had been settled in.

“What exactly are we doing?” Fred asks curiously. “I mean, I know you guys probably have traditions and I definitely don’t want to get in the way of them!”

“Get in the way? Fred. Seriously. You’re adopted into the family at this point, you’re not getting in the way, you’re getting dragged in with the rest of us,” Hiro deadpans. 

“...That sounds kinda dark but sure, okay, I’m game!” Fred laughs before adding, “Please tell me we’re not doing any weird rituals like trying to summon the Krampus.” 

“That’s exactly what we’re doing,” Hiro answers in a completely serious tone.

“What? No!” Tadashi hurries to reassure Fred--why did Hiro have to make everything sound so dramatic? “Christmas Eve for us is watching a bunch of cheesy Christmas movies until Aunt Cass closes up shop, then we all have dinner together and hang out until nine, at which point Aunt Cass insists we all go lie down--or at least be quiet so she can get in a couple hours’ sleep--until we open presents at midnight.”

“You open presents at midnight?” Fred asks before quickly adding, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that!” 

“Hiro never had the patience to wait for actual Christmas morning so we finally just decided to go with it,” Tadashi explains.

“Christmas morning is any time after 12:00 am on Christmas, it’s a fact!” Hiro states firmly.

“Yeah, there’s no arguing with this one, so I just try to make sure Aunt Cass gets her nap so she isn’t grumpy during present opening,” Tadashi sighs.

“Aww, that’s pretty cute!” Fred laughs.

“I am not cute!” Hiro protests. 

“Yep, not winning that fight either.” Tadashi shakes his head before thinking to ask, “What about you? Do you have any Christmas traditions? If there’s anything special that you usually do we can totally find a way to incorporate that in with ours!”

“Nah, my parents weren’t really home for a lot of Chritmasses so any ‘traditions’ that I had were pretty depressing,” Fred admits. “That’s kinda why I’m really excited to get to share yours…”

“Well we’re happy to have you here to share them with us!” Tadashi reassures him.

“Yeah, yeah, enough with wasting time on being mushy,” Hiro breaks in. “C’mon, we need to get started if we’re going to make it through the whole Disney Santa Clause series before dinner!”

“Oh, you mean the one with Tim Allen?” Fred asks eagerly. “I love those movies!”

“Good, because they’re Dashi’s favorite Christmas movies and I’m pretty sure he’d break up with you if you didn’t like them!” Hiro laughs.

“I would not break up with him!” Tadashi cries before turning to Fred. “I would not break up with you! I would just seriously question your taste in movies…” 

“Well no fear there because I love them too,” Fred reassures him.

“Good!” Tadashi grins before pulling Fred over to the couch to cuddle with him while Hiro went to put the movie in. 

Several hours later, Aunt Cass joined them upstairs after closing the Cafe for the holiday, and they had their traditional Christmas Eve dinner of waffles with scrambled eggs and bacon. After that, Aunt Cass joined them in finishing their Christmas movie marathon, ending right at nine. 

“All right, I’m going to go get some sleep,” Aunt Cass says, standing up from the couch and yawning. “I recommend that you boys do too, but if you don’t you know the rules--no loud noises until midnight.”

“Well, I’m heading out to the garage to work on stuff,” Hiro says as soon as her door is closed. “I’ll leave you two in here to do… whatever.” He raises his eyebrows meaningful. 

“Oh my God, Hiro, really?!” Tadashi groans. 

“Just saying! The bedroom’s not going to be in use for three hours--make the most of it,” Hiro answers with a shit eating grin before heading towards the garage stairs. 

“I am so sorry about him, he seriously has no filter,” Tadashi apologizes to Fred. 

“It’s fine,” Fred reassures him. “Actually, lying down does sound pretty nice.”

“Oh, of course!” Tadashi hurries to agree. “Yeah, if you want to go lie down I have no problem with that, you can use the guest bedroom or my room if you prefer--”

“I-I meant it might be nice… If we could go lie down together?” Fred says a bit sheepishly.

“O-Oh!” Tadashi feels his heart skip a beat in his chest. 

“Nothing sexual!” Fred quickly adds. “Just… Cuddling with you in bed sounds really nice right now…”

“T-That sounds really nice to me too,” Tadashi tells him softly. 

“Great!” Fred beams at him, gently taking his hand in his own. “Do you want to do it in the guest bedroom, or your room…?”

“My room might be better,” Tadashi answers after thinking it over for a moment. “I mean, my bed has been fully fireproofed, I haven’t really tested the guest bed but I don’t think Aunt Cass would be too happy if I accidentally burned something…”

“Understood.” Fred nods in agreement. “Upstairs it is, then.” He smiles and leads Tadashi up the stairs to the brothers’ bedroom. 

Tadashi felt a tiny bit nervous as they climb the stairs--this was the first time he could remember that he and Fred would be sharing the same bed, unless you counted that first night and a few brief makeout sessions--but when Fred suggests that they change into pajamas to be more comfortable, he felt himself relaxing slightly, realizing that if they were going to the trouble of changing into something as unsexy as pajama pants and t-shirts there wasn’t going to be anything sexual going on. Still, as it turned out, he had to admit that Fred’s idea of cuddling was nice--very,  _ very  _ nice. 

Once they were changed, Fred let Tadashi climb into bed first, and then he climbed in after him, lying against his back and wrapping his arms around his waist, nuzzling against his neck. Tadashi lets out a contented sigh as one of Fred’s legs crosses over both of his own, turning this into a full-body cuddle, and he definitely didn’t mind when, a few minutes into cuddling, one of Fred’s hands wanders its way underneath his shirt to rest on his stomach. Fred’s hand felt absolutely wonderful against his bare skin, sending tiny excited thrills through his body, and there was something so incredibly warm and comforting about it… 

It took almost a full minute for Tadashi to realize the reason why the spot Fred was touching felt so warm.    
“Holy shit!” Tadashi jerks upright as he sees flames dancing under his shirt and around Fred’s hand--his pajamas wouldn’t burn since they were made out of fireproof material like the rest of his clothes, but without wearing his hoodie to bed that didn’t mean that his body couldn’t still produce fire. 

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Fred asks worriedly, sitting up too. “Are you okay?” 

“Am I okay? I should be asking you that! Your hand is literally in the middle of fire right now!” Tadashi cries, a shamed flush crossing his cheeks and unable to comprehend why Fred hadn’t moved his hand yet. “I’m so sorry, this is my fault, if you’re hurt--!”

“Dashi, I’m not hurt!” Fred hurries to reassure him. “I told you a long time ago, your fire isn’t going to burn me. And I wasn’t saying anything because it feels really, really nice.”

“Y-You like it?” Tadashi asks in disbelief. 

“Yeah, definitely!” Fred grins at him. “It’s like you’re a human heating pad! ...Okay, that probably wasn’t the best choice of words. But I just mean it feels warm and nice and I really, really don’t mind it.”

“I… Okay.” Tadashi still couldn’t believe that anyone would purposefully want to be in contact with his fire, but Fred sounded so sincere it was hard not to believe him.

“C’mon.” Fred lies back down and gently tugs Tadashi down with him. “Just relax, okay?” 

Tadashi tentatively tries to do so, snuggling back into the curve of Fred’s body, doing his best to be calm. Then he feels Fred starting to gently massage his stomach and he lets out a quiet mew of pleasure--how did Fred always know how to make him feel better?

“I’ll take it you like that,” Fred chuckles, and Tadashi felt himself blushing as it became evident that his fire was spreading. 

“Fred, this is embarrassing…” Tadashi mumbles, ducking his head. 

“What? No it’s not! It’s great, it means I’m able to tell if I’m doing something right!” Fred answers.

Tadashi bites his lip. Part of him wanted to put a stop to this because even though he wanted to believe that Fred was right, he wasn’t sure that it was a good idea to put this so seriously to the test. On the other hand, what Fred was doing felt so good that he really didn’t want it to stop…

Well, if they were going to test this, they might as well do it properly. Tadashi slowly lets the part of his back that Fred was pressed up against ignite--Fred said he liked the warmth, so might as well see if he liked it when there was more of it. Tadashi was fully prepared to shut it down the moment that Fred told him to, but instead of telling him to stop, Fred lets out a rather blissful sounding sigh, mumbling out, “That feels great, Dashi…”

“Y-Yeah?” Tadashi stammers out. 

“Mm,” Fred agrees, nuzzling against the back of his neck before pressing a kiss to it. 

That was enough for Tadashi. He didn’t think that Fred could be faking this, and since apparently he was enjoying it… 

Tadashi lets his eyes slide shut, allowing his body to relax and just do whatever it wanted, focusing on Fred’s steady breathing and heartbeat until finally he drifted off into a peaceful, dreamless sleep. 

“Dashi! Fred! Wake up, it’s time for presents!” 

Tadashi blinks his eyes open at the sound of Hiro’s voice, his body protesting having to wake up when he was so warm and comfortable. 

“Dashi, get up or I swear I will get the ice bucket!”

Hiro had definitely not been above dumping ice on him before and so, not wanting to relive that experience, Tadashi manages to wrench himself up from the mattress. 

“Guess it’s time for presents?” he hears Fred’s voice saying, and for a moment he panics, having forgotten that Fred was in the bed with him, but then his memories from what had happened right before falling asleep come back to him and he turns to offer Fred a sheepish smile. 

“Hey.” Tadashi turns back to offer him an embarrassed smile. “Sorry about him, he’s very serious about this whole presents thing.” 

“He’s still a kid, it’s allowed,” Fred chuckles, sleepily kissing Tadashi’s cheek. “Besides, I’m excited to give you my present.”    
“Aww, well I’m excited to give you my present too,” Tadashi says with a smile, kissing him back. 

“Great, then let’s get going before Hiro comes back with that ice!” Fred laughs, standing up and pulling Tadashi up with him.

“Right!” Tadashi laughs, following after him.

Soon they were all settled around the Christmas tree, each with a glass of Aunt Cass’s homemade eggnog and a plate of her fresh chocolate chip cookies. 

“All right, so, who wants to go first?” Aunt Cass asks with a smile. 

“You know the tradition, Aunt Cass--you get your present first,” Tadashi answers, going to retrieve an envelope with red poinsettias on it from under the tree before handing it to Aunt Cass. “This is from the three of us--Fred pitched in to help make it happen.”

“Oh my gosh, Fred, that is so sweet of you, you didn’t have to do that!” Aunt Cass cries. 

“You’ve done so much for me, accepting me into your family, I wanted to find some way to show you how grateful I am,” Fred answers with a sheepish smile. 

The three boys exchange eager glances as she opens up the envelope, pulling out a card and opening it to find a small voucher inside. 

“Oh my goodness! I-Is this--?” 

“Yep!” Hiro says proudly. “It’s good for a full spa day at that place you like over on Geary Street!” 

“And as part of your present, both Hiro and I will work shifts for free at the Cafe so that you don’t have to worry about getting anyone to cover for you!” Tadashi adds.

“I don’t know what I did to deserve you three boys! C’mere!” Aunt Cass beams and pulls all of them into a group hug. 

“Love you, Aunt Cass,” Tadashi says, beaming as he hugs her back. 

“All right, now on to you three’s presents!” Aunt Cass says when she finally lets them go.

“Right!” Tadashi agrees. “Can I go first with giving the rest of mine?” 

“Of course, sweetie!”

“All right, Hiro first,” Tadashi says, going over to retrieve Hiro’s present from under the tree. 

“Thanks, Dashi!” Hiro beams at him as he accepts the box. 

“Of course!” Tadashi beams at him, hoping that Hiro would like this.

Hiro tears the wrapping off of the box (he’d never been one to waste time on carefully undoing the tape like Tadashi) and then opens the flaps of the box.

“Oh my gosh… No way. No  _ way _ !” Hiro gasps, beaming as he reaches into the box and pulls out a small robotic Gyarados that was already activated so that it came to life as soon as he had it in his hands. It was only two feet long, just big enough to wrap around Hiro’s arm, but Tadashi was glad that Hiro still liked it. 

“I thought it seemed fitting for you since he’s your favorite!” Tadashi says, beaming as he watches Hiro playing with his new little friend, playfully scratching it under its chin. 

“He’s perfect, thank you nii-chan!” Hiro grins at him.

“Of course! And this one is for you.” Tadashi brings Fred’s present over to him. 

“Aww, thank you, Dashi!” Fred grins at him before opening his own box, letting out a small cry of surprise as a puppy-sized version of Growlithe comes jumping out at him as soon as the flaps are open. 

“He’s so cute!” Fred coos as soon as he gets over his initial shock, cuddling the Growlithe close as it eagerly licks his face. 

“I’m glad you think so!” Tadashi beams at him. 

“I definitely, definitely do, thank you!” Fred answers, beaming back at him.

“Okay, my turn!” Hiro says, standing up and going to get his presents from under the tree. “Dashi, this is for you!”

“Thanks, Hiro!” Tadashi accepts the box from his brother, feeling how heavy it was and wondering what Hiro had come up with this year.

“Wait, you didn’t--Oh my gosh, you did!” Tadashi cries when he finally has it unwrapped and inside finds a perfectly lap-sized Eevee inside which lets out a small yip before bouncing up into his lap. 

“Yep!” Hiro grins at him. “I knew that you were making Fred a pokemon so I thought it would be fun for you to have one too so they could play together. I didn’t know that you were making one for me, but I guess now they can all be friends?” 

“Hiro, that is seriously adorable! I love her, thank you!” Tadashi beams as he hugs the Eevee close and she nuzzles up against him. 

“You’re welcome!” Hiro grins at him.

“I feel like I’m a kid again wanting to be a pokemon trainer, only this time I’ve actually got a pokemon!” Fred laughs. 

“Well I’m glad you like your new friend!” Tadashi beams at him.

“I do! I really, really do!” Fred reassures him.

“Okay, Fred, I think maybe you should go ahead and give your presents now because I kind of want to save yours for last,” Hiro says. 

“Um, sure, okay?” Fred agrees before going over to the tree and picking up a rather long, slightly lumpy looking package. “Sorry, I’m not that great at wrapping…”

“No sweat!” Hiro reassures him before curiously tearing open the wrapping. “Oh, wow! I-It’s a keyblade! But… It’s not any of the keyblades I’ve seen in the games? Wait, but it has all our team’s symbols on it… I-Is this a Big Hero 6 themed keyblade?!”

“Yep!” Fred agrees. “I commissioned a few of my artist friends to get this put together for you--one of them to create the design, one of them to model it on their computer and 3D print it, and another one to paint it.”

“This is seriously one of the coolest things anyone has ever given me!” Hiro cries. “Thank you!” 

“Of course! I’m really glad that you like it!”

Tadashi beams at Fred--it was ridiculously sweet that he had remembered just how much Hiro loved Kingdom Hearts and had gone out of his way to have this made for him. 

“And this,” Fred says, turning to Tadashi and pulling a small wrapped box out of his pocket, “is for you.”

“Thank you, Freddy!” Tadashi saw that he looked slightly nervous for some reason so he pecks him on the cheek before carefully taking off the wrapping paper and opening the box. 

As soon as he saw what was inside, he felt his heart stop. Wait. Wait wait wait. This couldn’t be-- They hadn’t been dating nearly long enough for this!

“I-It’s not an engagement ring!” Fred cries, clearly reading the panic on Tadashi’s face. “I know we haven’t known each other long enough to be making that kind of commitment! But it is a promise ring--which basically means that I’m committing to seeing this out for the long term and, if we eventually hit the point where we’re ready for it, I’d love to replace this ring with a real engagement ring. Y-You don’t have to take this if you don’t want to! I just… Wanted to make sure that you knew that I love you and I feel very, very seriously about you.” 

“Oh my gosh, Fred…” Tadashi says softly before throwing his arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug and kissing him on the cheek. “I would love to wear it…. Thank you.” 

“I love you so much,” Fred whispers, hugging him tightly back. 

“I love you too,” Tadashi answers before giving him a proper kiss. 

“So, is it okay if I put it on you?” Fred asks with a sheepish smile when he finally pulls away. 

“O-Of course!” Tadashi answers, feeling himself shaking slightly but beaming as Fred carefully slips the simple silver band onto his finger. 

“Congratulations you two!” Aunt Cass cries as soon as it’s on. 

“Thanks, Aunt Cass.” Tadashi flashes her a sheepish smile as he leans against Fred’s side for support--he could hardly believe that this was really happening. 

“You know that this means I’m going to be keeping an even closer eye on you to make sure that you’re treating Tadashi right, right?” Hiro says to Fred, giving him a serious look. 

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Fred reassures him, slipping an arm around Tadashi’s waist. 

“Good.” Hiro nods, looking pleased by his response, before picking up a small box from under the tree. “This kind of makes my present to you that much more fitting.”

“Okay?” Fred accepts the package from him, opening it up to reveal what Tadashi recognized as one of the ear-mounted walkie talkies that the team used on missions and a piece of paper with what looked like the rough sketches for the schematics of a kaiju-themed superhero suit. Wait. Was Hiro --?

“W-What is all of this?” Fred asks, frowning in confusion as he picks up the piece of paper. 

“That,” Hiro answers with a small smirk, “is some preliminary sketches for your superhero suit.”

“M-My what?” Fred cries, eyes going wide. 

Oh gosh. Oh gosh, did Hiro really mean--?

Hiro grins at Fred. “Welcome to Big Hero 6.”


	13. Chapter 13

The next four months were some of the hardest working of Tadashi’s life. Not only was he finishing his last semester of undergrad, every spare minute that he had was spent training Fred. Just because Hiro had decided to allow Fred onto the team that didn’t mean that he was going to let him out on missions until he felt he was completely ready for it. The others all pitched in too, but Tadashi had volunteered to take on the bulk of Fred’s training himself. Not only did they work extremely well as a team, Fred’s suit had fire capabilities so he was the logical choice to teach him how to use those powers.

Tadashi was surprised by how much more comfortable he felt as Sunfire when he had Fred (or Zilla, as they’d decided on for his superhero name--Fred had wanted to go with Fredzilla but everyone had vetoed that as being too close to his real name) by his side. If anything, somehow their superhero personas had seemed to have built off of each other and almost started forming a relationship of their own. It was a bit strange, but mostly Tadashi just tried to go with it. And sometimes it could actually be kind of nice...

“Zilla, c’mon, you’ve got to move faster than that!” Sunfire calls to Zilla during an afternoon training session, tossing projectiles at him to blast apart.

“I’m moving as fast as I can, Sun!” Zilla shouts back, hitting a tile with a blast of fire from the mouth of his kaiju suit and causing it to shatter. 

“Not fast enough--you never know what a villain is going to throw at you, you need to be prepared for anything!” Sunfire answers sternly. 

“...Maybe I just need the right motivation,” Zilla says, his voice playful. 

“More motivation than saving the lives of innocent people?” Sunfire raises an eyebrow at him.

“Well, I mean, that’s major motivation too! But you know what I mean, Sun.” Even with the top of his suit down, Sunfire tell that Zilla was winking at him. 

“Fine.” Sunfire crosses his arms over his chest. “You get these next ten tiles rapidfire and you’ll get your reward. But you’d better not miss a single one of it’s another hour of training for you.” 

“Ooh, I like it when you’re forceful like this.” Zilla agrees cheekily. “Yeah, let’s do this!”

“All right then.” Sunfire picks up the first tile and tosses it into the air, quickly followed by the second and the third, all the way to the tenth. Zilla didn’t miss a single one of them. 

“Now why do I get the feeling I just got played and you were just holding back because you wanted something from me?” Sunfire asks sternly. 

“What? No, I would never do that!” Zilla answers with false innocence. 

Sunfire shakes his head and sighs. “Well, I guess that you did do what you promised so I can’t withhold your reward…”

“Good!” Zilla cheers.

Sunfire smirks and makes his way over to Zilla, flipping up the top of his suit (they were practicing in the mansion’s garden so they could safely do that here) before pulling him into a deep, passionate kiss. 

“So how was I really?” Fred asks when Tadashi finally breaks away for air. 

“You’re doing so, so good babe,” Tadashi reassures him with a smile, tenderly pecking his cheek. “You’re making a lot of great progress, and Hiro thinks that if you keep up like this you’ll be able to go out on your first mission with us soon!”

“Awesome!” Fred beams at him. “So do we want to do another practice session on Friday after classes?”

“Actually,” Tadashi answers as they both go to sit on the back steps where they had cold water bottles waiting in a cooler for them, “I was thinking maybe we could take a Friday off?” 

“Oh, sorry, do you have plans?” Fred asks as he climbs out of his suit and opens his water bottle. “It’s totally fine if you do!” 

“Well, they’re not official yet,” Tadashi answers slowly. “But I was hoping that maybe I’d have plans with you to do something other than training…”

“Okay, I like where this is heading.” Fred grins at him. “Did you have anything in particular in mind?” 

“I do, actually,” Tadashi confirms a bit sheepishly. “SFIT is doing their big annual fundraiser ball on Friday. I’ve never actually gone because I never had anyone to go with, but it’s this big formal thing where you get to dress up and eat a nice dinner and dance, and it’s held under the cherry blossom trees on campus since this is the time of the year that they go in bloom, so I thought maybe if you’d want to go with me…”

“Oh my gosh, Dashi, that sounds awesome!” Fred beams at him.

“Yeah?” Tadashi grins hopefully at him.

“Absolutely! I’d love to go to that with you!” 

“Well… Great!” Tadashi beams and kisses him on the cheek. “I’ve already got the tickets, so all you have to do is show up at my house at 5 on Friday.” 

“Sounds good!” Fred agrees before asking curiously, “Are any of the others going?” 

“Yeah, the entire rest of the team is going, but they’ve all got their own rides,” Tadashi answers. “Probably for the best, not knowing what they’ll get up to after the dance…”

“True,” Fred laughs before resting a hand on Tadashi’s knee. “Who knows? Maybe, if you’re up for it, after the dance you and I could… Well, see where things go?”

“S-Sure!” Tadashi agrees, heart racing in his chest. Was Fred really thinking about finally taking the next step with him? He knew that Fred had said that he wanted to wait until he felt that Tadashi was fully confident in himself. Did this mean that Fred felt he was confident in himself now? Tadashi supposed that he had gotten a lot more open and outgoing recently, at least when he was with Fred. He’d finally allowed himself to relax about his powers, which somehow actually had helped him before even more in control of them. He wasn’t covering his face up every time he went in public anymore. And he didn’t feel himself getting angry every time someone brought up Sunfire. Maybe, without realizing it, he’d made more progress than he’d realized. 

That Friday night, he was feeling fairly confident as he waited in the living room for Fred. Aunt Cass had pressed his suit for him, and Hiro had made sure that the jacket was wired up to keep him from having any fire related accidents--not that he thought he’d have any, but it was still good to be prepared. He was absently playing with the ring on his finger, smiling as he imagines the night ahead, when he hears the doorbell ring.

“I’ll get it!” Aunt Cass shouts, almost running over poor Mochi as she charges for the door. After missing Fred and Tadashi’s first date, she was determined to get pictures of them tonight in their suits for her photo album. 

“Oh, Fred, you look so handsome!” she cries as soon as the door’s open. Tadashi couldn’t see Fred from where she’d told him to wait on the living room couch, but he could imagine how good he looked.

“Thanks, Aunt Cass!” he hears Fred answering. “Is Tadashi ready to go?” 

“He is!” Aunt Cass answers, looking every bit like a proud mother hen as she ushers him into the living room. 

“Hi Fred! I’m so glad you’re… here...” Tadashi starts to say, only to find himself trailing off as he gets his first good look at Fred. He’d seen Fred in a suit the first night that they’d met, so that wasn’t new, but tonight it looked like he’d made a special effort to make sure that everything was spotless and shining. And, more than that--he wasn’t wearing his hat. This was quite possibly the first time that Tadashi had ever seen him without it, and beyond just not wearing it, his hair was neatly combed and pulled back into a ponytail, and Tadashi was having serious flashbacks to all the fairy tale princes that he’d had a crush on as a kid. 

“Tadashi, you look great!” Fred was beaming at him, his eyes appreciatively roaming over Tadashi. “N-Not that you don’t usually look really good! I just… Wow. You look really, really, good in a suit.”

“You’re looking amazingly handsome yourself,” Tadashi answers, stepping forward and playfully tugging on Fred’s ponytail. “I like this new addition--I could definitely get used to it.”

“Thanks!” Fred beams at him, playfully pecking him on the cheek before asking, “You ready to go?” 

“I think so!”

“Wait, don’t go yet!” Aunt Cass cries. “I need to get a picture of the two of you together!” 

Tadashi was a bit embarrassed by this, but Fred was good natured about the whole picture thing so he tries to patiently go along with all the different poses that Aunt Cass put them through before finally declaring that she had the perfect picture and shushing them out the door. 

The drive from the Cafe to SFIT wasn’t long at all, and once they arrived they followed the trail of other students and faculty members making their way into the dance. After their tickets were scanned and they were allowed in, they step out into the courtyard where the dance was being held.

“Wow…” Tadashi whispers as he leans against Fred’s side as they walk in together. Fairy lights had been strung from all the trees, giving the cherry blossoms an almost magical glow, and everything from the table settings to the decorations were a shimmering rose gold color. 

“This place looks sick,” Fred agrees with a grin. 

“Sick? You’ve been spending too much time with Hiro!” Tadashi teases.

“What? It’s a good word!” Fred laughs, playfully elbowing him. “C’mon, let’s go find our friends.”

It didn’t take them long at all to find the rest of the team. Everyone looked elegant in their formal wear, and Tadashi admittedly got a bit choked up at the sight of Hiro looking all grown up in a suit. 

In addition to their close friends, Tadashi spotted a lot of classmates and, more importantly (to him, anyways), professors that he recognized, and he was proud to be able to introduce Fred to all of them as his boyfriend after all of this time bragging about how amazing Fred was. 

His introductions were just finishing when dinner was announced, and shortly after that the dancing began. Fred was quick to pull him out onto the dance floor, and Tadashi felt like he was right in the middle of his own fairy tale as he and Fred dance through song after song together, completely losing track of the time until finally last dance was called. 

“I can’t believe it’s almost over,” Tadashi admits as Fred pulls him into a slow dance, resting his head on his boyfriend’s shoulder. “It was all so magical…”

“I’m so glad you invited me tonight,” Fred says softly in his ear. 

“I’m really glad that you agreed to come with me,” Tadashi answers with a grin. 

“You look absolutely radiant,” Fred tells him, gently brushing the back of his hand against Tadashi’s cheek and making him blush.

“F-Fred…” 

“It’s the truth.” Fred kisses him on the cheek. “It makes me think of our first dance together. You were so shy and nervous back then. It’s nice getting to see you look so much more confident in yourself.” 

“You’re the reason for all of this,” Tadashi breathes, getting lost in his eyes. “W-Without you, I probably wouldn’t be here tonight…”

“No.” Fred shakes his head with a loving smile. “I didn’t do this. I’m honored if I was able to help in any way, but this is all you, Dashi. You put in the hard work, and you were so brave through all of this. You should be proud of yourself for all of the progress that you’ve made.” 

“I love you so much,” Tadashi whispers, pressing his face into the side of Fred’s neck and a few tears escaping in spite of himself. 

“I love you just as much,” Fred reassures him, gently rubbing his back. 

“So, um… W-Where do you want to go from here?” Tadashi asks, pulling away as the dance finally comes to an end. 

“I’m happy with whatever you want to do,” Fred answers with a smile. “If you need to go home, that’s fine. If you want to go somewhere else for a bit, I’m fine with that too!”

“Actually…” Tadashi says carefully, a bit too embarrassed to meet Fred’s eyes, “I was thinking… M-Maybe we could give that other part of that first night another go?” 

He was fully prepared for Fred to turn him down and tell him no, and he kept his eyes trained on the ground to avoid the disappointment of seeing the expression on Fred’s face. But then he suddenly felt Fred’s hands around his waist and hears him whispering in his ear, “I was actually hoping that you’d say that.”

Afterwards, Tadashi wouldn’t be able to recall much of how he and Fred got back to the mansion. He knew that Heathcliff picked them up, but most of the ride over was just a blur of heated anticipation, trying to hold back from going too far in the back seat of the limo but Fred’s hands surreptitiously sliding over parts of him that Heathcliff wouldn’t see in the rearview mirror certainly weren’t helping matters.

Almost as soon as they reached the mansion and parked, Fred practically threw the limo door open and dragged Tadashi out after him, through the garage and the mansion’s hallways until they were safely in his room with the door closed. 

“God, I want you so badly right now,” Fred breathes. 

“Good, because I want you to have me,” Tadashi answers before playfully adding, “What are you doing all the way over there? Aren’t you going to help me get these clothes off?” 

“Gladly,” Fred answers, and within moments he was pulling of Tadashi jacket and unbuttoning his shirt, tossing the garments off to the side before trailing one hand slowly down Tadashi’s chest. 

A small line of fire followed the path of Fred’s fingers, and it was the sight of the fire that suddenly reminded Tadashi of a very serious problem. 

“Shit!” 

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Fred asks, quickly backing off. 

“I-It’s not you!” Tadashi hurries to reassure him. “I just realized that I don’t think that there’s a way for us to do this safely unless you don’t mind your bed ending up just being a charred pile of wood…” 

“Oh, Dashi.” Fred grins at him, wrapping his arms around his waist. “You think I didn’t get a fireproof bed as soon as I found out that you were Sunfire?” 

“...Holy fuck that is somehow the hottest thing you’ve ever said to me,” Tadashi breathes. 

“Good!” Fred answers, before pulling Tadashi close and starting to attack his neck with tongue and teeth. 

Tadashi was already a moaning, weak-kneed mess by the time that he and Fred made it to the bed. Somewhere in the midst of all the kissing Fred’s shirt and jacket had disappeared and Tadashi was very grateful for that as Fred gently pushes him down onto the bed and climbs on top of him. Fred’s cold (or, cold to him) bare skin felt amazing against his own, which had long since burst into flame. 

“You have no idea how much you’re turning me on right now,” Fred gasps between pressing kisses to his mouth. 

“T-The fire doesn’t bother you?” Tadashi manages to get out, so lost in the moment that he was barely able to form a coherent sentence. 

“Fuck no,” Fred answers, starting to trail kisses down his chest. 

Tadashi’s head keens back at the amazing sensations those kisses were sending through him. He’d have to take Fred’s word for it because there was no way he had it in him to keep arguing or doubt him at this point. 

“A-Are you okay with this?” Fred asks once his kisses reach Tadashi’s waist and he stops, one hand on the button of Tadashi’s pants but clearly waiting for permission. 

“Fred, fuck, yes, please, just take everything off,” Tadashi begs. 

“All right, Fred agrees, still seeming a bit hesitant but after a moment growing bolder and carefully undoing the button and then the zipper and pulling Tadashi’s pants off the rest of the way. 

“Fuck,” Fred breathes, but he leaves Tadashi’s shorts on for the moment, returning to his mouth to pepper it with more kisses. 

“Fred, p-please,” Tadashi whines. He wanted this so badly that it hurt. 

“Not quite yet,” Fred answers, kissing him again and using one hand to stroke Tadashi’s cheek. “I want to make this as amazing for you as possible.” 

“A-At least make it fair,” Tadashi gasps out. “Take your pants off too.” 

“I was thinking maybe you’d like to help me with that,” Fred teases. 

Tadashi eagerly does so, pulling Fred’s pants off as far as he could, and as soon as Fred kicked them off the rest of the way he was pulling him back down against him, needing as much of his skin against him as possible. 

“Feels like you’re ready,” Fred purrs after a few more minutes of eager kissing.

“I’ve been ready since we got here,” Tadashi whines. 

“Okay then.” Fred kisses his cheek before pulling away to retrieve something out of his bedside table, which as it turned out was a condom and lube. 

“You’re sure that you’re okay with this?” Fred asks once he’d finished prepping himself. “I-I know this is your first time, I want it to be as amazing as possible for you, and I don’t want you to feel rushed into anything…”

“Fred, I’m not rushing into anything, I’ve been wanting this since I met you,” Tadashi answers before asking, “D-Do you not want this?” 

“Of course I want this!” Fred hurries to reassure him. “I-I just don’t want you to throw this away on me if it’s something that you’re going to regret later.” 

“Now who’s the one acting insecure?” Tadashi playfully teases before pulling Fred down onto his chest so that he was looking directly into his eyes. “Hey. I love you. You’re the only one I want to do this with, and, as far as I can tell, you’re the only one I’ll ever want to do this with for the rest of my life.”

“Dashi…” Fred whispers, and Tadashi could see his eyes filling up with tears as he leans down to kiss his lips. “Y-You’re the only one I’ll ever want to do this with again for the rest of my life…”

“Good.” Tadashi kisses him passionately back. “Then let’s stop holding back and do this. 

Tadashi wasn’t sure how much later it was when Fred finally collapses on top of him. They were both covered in sweat, and Tadashi’s fire had gone out with his orgasm, but this had been the best night of Tadashi’s life, and he was sure that this was only the first of many. 

“C’mon,” Fred says with a tired but tender smile as he pecks his lips before forcing himself up and off of the mattress. “Let’s go get you cleaned up. I know you probably don’t want to get up right now, but trust me, you’ll thank me for it later.”

“‘Kay,” Tadashi agrees, feeling spent but obediently following after him. 

As it turned out, the shower that Fred had in mind felt great. The warm water helped relax his muscles, and Fred was incredibly gentle as he carefully scrubs him down with the soap and washes his hair. Still, Tadashi was more than ready to return to the bed to cuddle with Fred as soon as they were both washed and dried. 

“Do you need to go home tonight?” Fred asks softly as Tadashi collapses down onto the mattress, feeling like he’d never lain on anything so soft and comfortable before. 

“No,” Tadashi mumbles, turning over so he could look up at Fred. “Aunt Cass told me it’s okay if I wanted to stay over at your place tonight… And Hiro will probably be gloating that this finally happened…”

“...Okay, so your family’s a lot more open minded than mine,” Fred laughs. “Still, I’m going to text your aunt just so she knows where you are.”

“Nooo…” Tadashi whines, stretching his arms out to Fred and pouting at him. “Come cuddle with me…”

“Just a second,” Fred chuckles, picking his phone up off the bedside table and sending a text before finally joining Tadashi on the bed. “There, happy?” 

“Very,” Tadashi answers, wrapping his arms around his waist and nuzzling up against his chest. 

“Good.” Fred beams down at him and kisses the top of his head. “I love you, Tadashi Hamada.”

“I love you too…” Tadashi mumbles, his eyes sliding shut and smiling contentedly as sleep starts to claim him. He had never imagined seven months ago when he’d gone to that cosplay ball that it would result in this. But he was happier than he’d been in his entire life, and completely in love with the man he wanted to be with for the rest of his life. Who could ask for more than that?


End file.
